US Navy Helicopter Declares Emergency Over Red Sea Near Saudi Arabia

By Staff, Agencies

A US Navy helicopter declared an emergency while flying over the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia on Monday before disappearing from publicly available flight-tracking systems.

The Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk, operating under the call sign VVHR512, reportedly issued the emergency alert at around 5:20 p.m. ET while flying near Yanbu, a city on Saudi Arabia’s western coast.

Flight-tracking data showed the helicopter at an altitude of approximately 475 feet when the emergency was declared. Its reported altitude later fell to zero before the aircraft disappeared from the tracking service.

The US Navy had not publicly confirmed the incident by Monday evening and had provided no information about the condition of the helicopter or its crew.

The cause of the emergency also remained unknown.

Reports circulating on social media suggested that the helicopter may have crashed, but there was no official confirmation that a crash had occurred.