A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion attached to the U.S. Navy San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD 25) carries Peruvian marine corps partners to participate in air operations at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii during Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2024, July 25. (Iain Page/U.S. Navy)
(Tribune News Service) — Billowing smoke and flames were seen after a military helicopter made an emergency landing off Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton on Friday, according to officials.
The incident occurred after a CH-53E Super Stallion — a heavy-lift helicopter used by the U.S. Marines to transport troops and equipment from ships to shore — experienced an engine fire in flight around 4:10 p.m., the Marine Corps said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
The helicopter landed in the sand west of I-5 near the Aliso Creek rest area on Camp Pendleton property, California Highway Patrol officials said
All four crew members were able to get out safely and uninjured.
Video posted by CHP officers at the site shows smoke rising from a crash a few hundred yards away from the freeway, with flames burning up from the ground.
Officers advised commuters to expect delays on the north and southbound sides of the freeway.
No other information was immediately available Friday evening.
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