Soldiers die on mercy mission

May 10 2003

By The Evening Gazette

Three American soldiers were killed and a fourth injured when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during the rescue of an Iraqi child. Two helicopters were sent from the Tikrit area yesterday to help the child, who had suffered serious head injuries when unexploded ordnance went off outside Samarra, US officials said. The child was put into the first helicopter, which took off without problems, but the second helicopter snagged a wire across the River Tigris and flipped into the water.