http://news.excite.com/news/r/000811/01/news-crash-navy-dc

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Reuters) - Two crew members were plucked from the water alive but two others died and two were still missing after a U.S. Navy helicopter crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast, a Navy spokeswoman said.

The MH-53E mine-sweeping helicopter was on a routine training mission with six people on board when it went down about 15 miles off the coast southeast of Corpus Christi, operations specialist Ryan Hernandez said.

U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Jan Johnson said two injured crew members were found floating in a raft near the wreck site.

"Rescue swimmers managed to get the two people into two helicopters and they were flown immediately to Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi," she said.

Hernandez said two bodies were recovered from the water, correcting an earlier Navy statement that suggested a third crew member had been rescued.

Hernandez said Navy and U.S. Coast Guard boats, jets and helicopters were searching for the remaining two crew members.

Typically, the mine-sweeping helicopters tow a sonar device through the water searching for mines during their training missions, she said.

The helicopter crew was based at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station.

Hernandez said the cause of the crash was not known.

"What they think is that it might be some kind of equipment failure but it is too soon to know," she said.

-- Jim McAteer (jim_mcateer@hotmail.com), August 11, 2000