Two U.S. Marine Corps pilots, a crew chief and a Navy corpsman were identified Saturday as the victims killed in the crash of a search-and-rescue helicopter near the Colorado River.
Major Cesar Y. Freitas, 35, and Capt. Bradley E. Walters, 33, were killed when the HH-1N Huey they were piloting went down about 20 miles north of Yuma on Thursday afternoon, the Marine Corps said.
Also killed in the crash were Sgt. Charles L. Osgood, 27, the crew chief, and Navy Hospitalman 2nd Class Brendon O. Sandburg, 25.
Their hometowns were not released by the Marine Corps.
The three Marines were assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. Sandberg was assigned to the Branch Medical Clinic in Yuma and was a naval air crewman.
The lone survivor of the crash, Marine Lance Cpl. Brian D. Stahlhut, 21, was listed in fair condition at Yuma Regional Medical Center, the military said.
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The aircraft, one of four search-and-rescue helicopters assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, was last heard from Thursday afternoon, Marine Sgt. Ryan O'Hare said. The wreckage was discovered early Friday, and the cause of the crash was under investigation.
In a statement, base commander Col. Ben Hancock expressed sympathy for the families of the lost airmen. Their "devotion to duty, patriotism and selflessness are hallmarks of search and rescue crew members," Hancock said. "They were outstanding members of this command and as a close-knit family we mourn their loss."
The aircraft was flying alone on a routine training mission near the Army's Yuma Proving Ground, a sprawling 1,300-square-mile military reservation along the Arizona-California border used to test combat systems and helicopters.
The bright red search-and-rescue Hueys are familiar sights along the southern Arizona-California border, where they fly daily in support of military operations and do civilian rescues, said Lance Cpl. Daniel Angel, the community and media relations chief for the Yuma base. They are used in civilian rescues within 100 miles of Yuma.
The choppers assigned to Yuma average 20 to 40 rescues a year, helping injured or stranded hikers, motorists or boaters. In some rescues, a Navy corpsman rappels down a rope to reach a victim in areas where the aircraft can't land.
Crews train daily for the rappelling operations, but it isn't known if the aircraft was involved in that activity when it crashed.
The Yuma facility is the home base to four Marine Harrier squadrons and an F-5 squadron used in an aggressor role for training pilots in air-to-air combat. Besides the resident squadrons, the site is used by Marine aviators around the nation for training and is the world's busiest Marine Corps air station.
In 2005, a Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed into a neighborhood near the air base, but the pilot had only minor injuries and no one on the ground was hurt.
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