A U.S. Navy airman is missing after a helicopter went down in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday, triggering a frantic search-and-rescue mission as tensions continue to simmer across the region.
The MH-60S Sea Hawk was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and went into the water at about 11 a.m. local time, roughly 3:30 a.m. ET, according to U.S. 5th Fleet.
Three of the four crew members were pulled from the water and are in stable condition aboard the carrier.
Navy ships and aircraft were searching for the fourth crew member, whose name has not been released.
‘US Navy assets in the region are currently searching for other aircrewman still missing,’ the 5th Fleet said in a statement on X.
The Navy said there was ‘no indication’ the emergency was caused by hostile action.
Officials described the incident as an ’emergency water landing’ and said the cause remains under investigation.
The service did not immediately say whether the Sea Hawk had been salvaged or lost at sea.
The MH-60S Sea Hawk is one of the Navy’s key utility helicopters, commonly used for search and rescue, transport, logistics and plane-guard missions during carrier flight operations.
The helicopter was operating from the USS George H.W. Bush, where Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, known as the ‘Nightdippers,’ is based out of Naval Air Station Norfolk in Virginia.
The Bush left Norfolk on March 31 and later rounded the Cape of Good Hope before arriving in the Middle East, where it has been operating since late April.
The carrier is one of two U.S. aircraft carriers still deployed in the war against Iran.
The incident marks the second U.S. military helicopter crash in the region in recent weeks.
An Army AH-64 Apache went down in the Gulf of Oman on June 9, and its crew was pulled from the water by a drone boat.
President Donald Trump later said Iranian forces shot that aircraft out of the sky.
Wednesday’s Sea Hawk crash came as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in Doha aimed at securing a permanent end to the war.
Iran’s lead negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi also traveled to Qatar with his own team.
Vice President JD Vance warned Iran not to rebuild its nuclear program during remarks to troops at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.
‘If the Iranians want to rebuild their nuclear program, the president has options,’ Vance said.
Iranian state television, meanwhile, claimed a foreign container ship had run aground in the Strait of Hormuz after straying outside a shipping route approved by Tehran.
The report appeared to bolster Iran’s disputed claim that vessels must follow its instructions or risk disaster in the strategic waterway.
Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas moves through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.
Iran has used its ability to threaten the channel as leverage since the U.S. and Israel opened the war on Feb. 28.
For now, Navy crews remain focused on finding the missing airman.
The cause of the helicopter’s emergency landing remains under investigation.
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