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| Date: | Monday 20 March 1989 |
| Time: | 06:55 |
| Type: |  Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion |
| Owner/operator: | USMC |
| Registration: | 157140 |
| MSN: | 65-266 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 19 / Occupants: 34 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 10 nm W of Pohang -
 South Korea
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
A U.S. Marine helicopter carrying 37 Marines on maneuvers crashed in an isolated mountain region on South Korea’s southeast coast early today, and 22 were killed, U.S. authorities said.
Fifteen Marines were injured, some critically, when the Sikorsky Sea Stallion crashed shortly before 7 a.m. south of the industrial port city of Pohang and 250 miles southeast of Seoul, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
The most seriously injured were evacuated to an amphibious assault ship off the Korean coast, the Belleau Wood, and the rest were flown to Seoul, the spokesman said.
Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, said in a report quoting South Korean military officials that the helicopter exploded and burst into flames before slamming into the ground. The report said the explosion appeared to have been caused by an engine defect.
Sources:
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1989/1989 - 0827.html
https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/1989/05/crashes-cloud-team-spirit-89
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-20-mn-166-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-20-mn-171-story.html
Todd chamberlain HM2/USN triage corpsman, USS Belleau Wood, LHA-3, March 20, 1989
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Dec-2008 11:18 | harro | Added |
| 29-Dec-2008 10:22 | harro | Updated |
| 12-Apr-2017 05:33 | Rodger Asai | Updated [Date, Phase, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Nov-2024 08:12 | SikFan | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 23-Apr-2025 19:23 | Doc | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, ] |
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