5 Nations Help U.S. Search for Missing Jet in Mediterranean
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NAPLES, Italy — Five nations joined an American air and sea search Thursday for four U.S. Navy crewmen whose anti-submarine jet vanished two days ago in the eastern Mediterranean.
“We’ll just keep looking for them till there’s no more hope,” said 6th Fleet spokesman Lt. Dave Morris.
The S-3A Viking aircraft failed to return to the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday from what was described as “a routine anti-submarine surveillance mission.”
In Jacksonville, Fla., the Navy identified the missing crew members as Lt. Cmdr. David B. Hebdon Jr. of Orange Park, Fla.; Lt. Craig L. Sullivan of Hudson, Ohio; Lt. Richard A. Urbanek Jr. of Canal Fulton, Ohio; and Petty Officer 1st Class Roy E. Childress, of Tampa, Fla.
The missing plane is from Air Anti-Submarine Squadron 22, based at Cecil Field, Fla.
U.S. Asked Help
Search units from Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel and Turkey joined the hunt in response to a U.S. request for help, Morris said at the fleet’s headquarters in Naples.
“The Kennedy had just completed a port visit at Haifa (Israel) and was operating in the eastern Mediterranean,” Morris said.
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