Army Helicopters Crash; Six Dead
                     The Associated Press
                     Feb 13 2001 3:08PM

                     HONOLULU (AP) - Two Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed in a
                     remote area during a nighttime exercise, killing six soldiers on one of the
                     aircraft and injuring 11 others.

                     The aircraft ``somehow came in contact'' with each other, but it was still
                     unclear whether they collided, Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said
                     Tuesday in a briefing at the Pentagon.

                     The pilots of both aircraft were wearing night vision goggles, he said. Light
                     rain was falling at the time.

                     The helicopters, carrying a total of 17 people, crashed about 200 yards
                     apart, said Capt. Stephen Johnson, whose fire company came from the
                     nearby Sunset Beach station.

                     Quigley said he had received conflicting reports and was not certain how
                     the two Black Hawks touched each other. He said it appeared they were
                     not both in the air at the time, but did not elaborate.

                     He said all six dead were aboard one helicopter.

                     The two UH60 helicopters went down late Monday while participating in
                     an exercise over Kahuku on the island of Oahu, said Maj. Nancy
                     Makowski, a spokeswoman for the 25th Infantry Division based at
                     Schofield Barracks.

                     ``I heard a big thud,'' said Perry Dane, who lives on Kamehameha
                     Highway about a mile from the crash site. ``It sounded like thunder. It
                     shook, too, like a big rattle.''

                     The accident came just three days after a Navy submarine crashed into a
                     Japanese fishing trawler off the coast of Oahu, sinking the trawler. Nine
                     men and boys aboard the Japanese ship were feared lost and 26 others
                     were rescued.

                     The helicopters went down in a remote military area accessible only by
                     four-wheel-drive vehicles, said Mandy Shiraki, district chief of the city
                     ambulance services.

                     The Black Hawks were among 30 aircraft ferrying nearly 1,000 soldiers
                     from Wheeler Army Airfield to a base at Kahuku, part of a two-week Army
                     exercise that started Feb. 5.

                     The names of the victims were not disclosed pending notification of their
                     families.

                     Four of the injured were listed in stable condition Tuesday at Tripler Army
                     Medical Center. The other seven had been treated and released.

                     The Black Hawk is the Army's primary helicopter for air assault, air
                     cavalry and aeromedical evacuations units. Each helicopter can transport
                     an 11-man squad.

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