The BBC is reporting that a US HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk has crashed with the loss of 4. The crash happened near Cley-Next-the-Sea on the north Norfolk coast (both counties are in the east of England). The immediate area has been cordoned off.
The initial response was from the Lifeboat service when initially the crash was believed to have happened at sea before 8pm GMT. Fire and Rescue services are now at the scene:
Six appliances from Norfolk Fire Service are currently in attendance, including four pumps, a water carrier and an environmental protection unit.
A spokesman said the first unit arrived at the scene at 19:53 GMT.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/...
Please note as a developing story the above link may not be relevant later in the evening.
The UK is being buffeted by storms and there is both flooding and extreme flood warnings over many areas. The storms have been so severe that sections of coastal cliffs have been washed away. (This link shows some of the more dramatic damage). The storm currently hitting the eastern USA is expected to move across the Atlantic and hit the UK later this week. By then passing over the warm water will mean that further heavy rain and not snow will be the problem.
Update: have added the Air Force indicator to the title as it was not clear earlier what branch of the US military the helicopter was from. (It may be from a special operations unit which has a training base at Lakenheath). It was on a training exercise and apparently there was ammunition on board, the exclusion zone mentioned in the article is due to its presence. The access restrictions will last into Wednesday at least.
The time of the crash is given as just after 6pm GMT. The crash location is in a nature reserve and there is speculation that a bird strike may be involved.