Three of the four people on board a helicopter were killed when it crashed near the U.S. border with Mexico, according to local officials. The fourth person was critically injured.
According to KRGV, three National Guard soldiers from a state other than Texas and one Border Patrol officer were on board the helicopter when it went down before 3:00 p.m. Friday near La Grulla, Texas, just west of McAllen.
It was not clear which of the four individuals survived the crash.
A defense official told ABC News that the aircraft was a National Guard Lakota UH-72. Fox News reported that it belonged to the New York National Guard.
Deputies from the Starr County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene along with officials from a number of other government agencies, according to KRGV.
“The helicopter assigned to the federal Southwest border support mission crashed at approximately 2:50 p.m. MST Friday while conducting aviation operations near Rio Grande City, Texas, [Joint Task Forth North] said,” according to ABC.
“The cause of the accident is under investigation,” the outlet noted.
Fox reached out to the Starr County Sheriff’s Office, the National Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment.
CBP told KRGV that it would release additional information in a news release, which does not appear yet on the agency’s website.
Fox’s Bill Melugin posted on X that the helicopter was part of a federal operation supporting border enforcement, and not part of Texas’ Operation Lone Star.
He also said that “cartel members” watched the crash on a drone and “laughed about it.”
BREAKING: Per sources, there are “multiple fatalities” after a federalized National Guard helicopter w/ 3 National Guard soldiers working under federal Title 10 orders and a Border Patrol agent on board crashed in the RGV in La Grulla, TX this afternoon.
They were not working… pic.twitter.com/axsHqMXFwr— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 9, 2024
BREAKING: Per Border Patrol source, cartel members were watching the helicopter on their drone when it crashed, then they zoomed into the crash site and laughed about it. Posted on cartel social media. The La Grulla area sees frequent cartel activity via drug & human smuggling. pic.twitter.com/WC9IhFolat
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 9, 2024
“Per Border Patrol source, cartel members were watching the helicopter on their drone when it crashed, then they zoomed into the crash site and laughed about it. Posted on cartel social media,” Melugin wrote in a post to X.
“The La Grulla area sees frequent cartel activity via drug & human smuggling,” he added.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
