US sailor hit by helicopter blade dies

By

The Associated Press

This Nov. 9, 2017 photo provided by the U.S. Marine Corps shows a UH-1Y Venom helicopter en route to Camp Schwab on Okinawa, in Japan. It’s the same type helicopter whose tail rotor blade fatally struck a sailor at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base north of San Diego. The incident happened Wednesday evening, Feb. 21, 2018. (Cpl. Hailey D. Clay/U.S. Marine Corps via AP)

SAN DIEGO — A sailor has died after he was struck by a helicopter blade at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, north of San Diego.

The Marine Corps says the sailor was hit by the spinning tail rotor of a Venom helicopter Wednesday evening and died at a hospital shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday.

The helicopter was on the ground at the time.

The sailor was assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

The sailor’s name and other details of the accident haven’t been released.