(Reuters) - A salvage crew including divers worked on Friday to extract the wreckage of a U.S. Army helicopter from the waters off the Florida Panhandle at a depth of about 25 feet (7.6 meters) three days after a crash during a training exercise killed 11 troops.
The Marine Corps on Friday identified the seven Marines who were killed when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter plunged into the Santa Rosa Sound in foggy conditions on Tuesday night. Four Louisiana National Guard soldiers also died.
Officials said they have not determined the cause of the crash, which occurred near Eglin Air Force Base.
The recovery of the helicopter, which broke into multiple pieces, includes the use of a salvage barge, with help from military divers. The operation got underway at noon and was set to take several hours, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said.
Sonar equipment helped locate the wreckage on Wednesday.
The Marines on board were part of a special operations unit from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
They were conducting training involving "helicopter and boat insertion and extraction" with an experienced Army air crew providing the helicopter support, according to the Marine Corps.
The exercise involved using a rope to climb down into the water from the helicopter and then swimming or using a small boat to get ashore, according to the Marine Corps. The Marines carried out the exercise in daylight in preparation for repeating it in a more difficult nighttime operation, the Marine Corps said.
The seven Marines were identified as: Captain Stanford Shaw III, 31, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; Master Sergeant Thomas Saunders, 33, of Williamsburg, Virginia; Staff Sergeant Marcus Bawol, 26, of Warren, Michigan; Staff Sergeant Trevor Blaylock, 29, of Lake Orion, Michigan; Staff Sergeant Liam Flynn, 33, of New York City; Staff Sergeant Kerry Kemp, 27, of Port Washington, Wisconsin; and Staff Sergeant Andrew Seif, 26, of Holland, Michigan.
The four soldiers and the helicopter were part of the Louisiana National Guard assigned to an Army unit based in Hammond, Louisiana. A second helicopter in the exercise had turned back due to the weather and landed safely.
Bodies of two of the soldiers have been recovered, a Louisiana National Guard spokesman said, with the other two believed to be in the helicopter wreckage.
(Editing by Will Dunham)