The Associated Press
 AP Photo/Wade Barker An emergency crew member carries equipment away from a helicopter after it crashed on the campus of Texas A&M Monday. One person was killed and four others injured, authorities said. |
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — An Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a field on the campus of Texas A&M University during a field training exercise Monday, killing one person and injuring four others aboard.
The Army UH-60 helicopter crashed Monday near the Corps of Cadets field on the school’s College Station campus, about 100 miles northwest of Houston. No students were among the injured.
A crew of four from the Army National Guard and an Army lieutenant assigned to the school’s ROTC unit were the only ones aboard the Black Hawk, Texas A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson said.
Sheila Rinard with College Station Medical Center said two of the crash victims were in critical condition and a third was in stable condition.
Another crash victim was at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan, a spokesman said. That person’s condition wasn’t immediately known. One person on the ground was hit by flying debris and suffered minor injuries, Stephenson said.
Officials did not release the names of the dead and injured.
Witnesses told the Bryan-College Station Eagle they saw five Black Hawk helicopters taking off and landing throughout the day.
Scott Walker said one of two helicopters he watched lift off seemed to lose control and start spinning, Walker said.
“All of a sudden he dropped straight back down into the ground,” Walker told the newspaper.
The helicopter, along with 190 cadets in the university’s Corps of Cadets, the school’s own officer training unit, were participating in the ROTC Winter Field Training Exercises.
Students are on winter break, with classes set to resume Jan. 20.