{"id":51109,"date":"2024-03-09T04:24:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T04:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/03\/09\/national-guard-helicopter-crashes-at-texas-mexico-border-killing-3\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:23:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:23:45","slug":"national-guard-helicopter-crashes-at-texas-mexico-border-killing-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2024\/03\/09\/national-guard-helicopter-crashes-at-texas-mexico-border-killing-3\/","title":{"rendered":"National Guard helicopter crashes at Texas-Mexico border, killing 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LA GRULLA, Texas \u2014 A helicopter flying over the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas crashed Friday, killing two National Guard soldiers and a Border Patrol agent, the military said. Another soldier on board was injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UH-72 Lakota helicopter was assigned to the federal government\u2019s border security mission when it went down near Rio Grande City, according to a statement released by Joint Task Force-North, the command overseeing the mission. The cause was under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crash happened mid-afternoon Friday while the helicopter was conducting aviation operations, according to the statement. No other details were provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starr County Judge Eloy Vera, the county\u2019s top official, said those on board included one woman and three men. He said the person who was injured was in critical condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The names of those killed were not immediately released. Command spokesperson Maj. Ryan Wierzbicki said the military casualties will not be publicly identified \u201cuntil the next of kin have been notified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border Patrol spokespersons did not immediately return messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site of the crash is in Texas\u2019 Rio Grande Valley. The Starr County Sheriff\u2019s Office posted on Facebook on Friday that it was assisting with a \u201cdowned helicopter incident\u201d on the east side of the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vera said the scene had been secured by the sheriff\u2019s office and that federal officials were on the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The border region is heavily patrolled by both state and federal authorities, including routine aerial surveillance. Federally controlled National Guard soldiers have assisted such efforts off-and-on for decades. The current mission there<\/a> began during the Trump administration and has continued amid large volumes of migrant encounters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday\u2019s crash marks the third time a National Guard helicopter has gone down since Feb. 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army National Guard\u2019s top officer temporarily grounded all Guard flight crews<\/a> last month after a pair of Apache crashes in Mississippi and Utah killed two<\/a> service members and injured two more<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t