A Royal Navy service member dies after a helicopter ditches in the English Channel

Published September 5, 2024 8:01 AM

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s defense ministry says a member of the Royal Navy was killed when a helicopter ditched in the English Channel during a nighttime training exercise. The ministry says the Merlin MK4 helicopter ditched while conducting night flying exercises with the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth off England’s south coast on Wednesday. No one else was killed or seriously hurt. The ministry said “a full investigation” would be held. Defense Secretary John Healey called the death “dreadful news.” The Queen Elizabeth is one of the British navy’s two aircraft carriers, alongside HMS Prince of Wales. The navy uses the Merlin mark-4 as an amphibious battlefield helicopter to deploy Royal Marine commandos.

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