The three crew members who died when a helicopter crashed in Devon have been named, GB News reported, in a development that has put names and faces to a tragedy that struck during a routine military exercise. According to the report, Britain's only serving female commander was among the three victims, adding to the sense of loss surrounding the crash that has been felt across the armed forces.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed the identities of the crew who were killed. They were named as 31-year-old Lieutenant Lily May Fisher, Lieutenant Commander Chris Gason, who was 42, and 24-year-old Petty Officer Owen Green. The three spanned different ranks and ages, but all were serving members of the military who lost their lives together in the same aircraft.
The aircraft involved was a Merlin helicopter, a type used by the military for a range of operations and training. According to the account, the helicopter came down near Okehampton, on the edge of the Devon moorland, an area used by the armed forces, turning a stretch of the countryside into the scene of a fatal crash in the middle of the night.
The crash happened in the early hours of Wednesday, while the crew were taking part in a training exercise. The fact that the helicopter went down during training, rather than on an operational mission, underscored the risks that service personnel face even in preparation, and it has prompted questions about exactly what caused the aircraft to crash.
Defence Secretary John Healey led the tributes to those who died. He described all three crew members as dedicated and highly valued members of their squadrons who embodied the best of the armed forces, words that sought to capture both the professional standing of the crew and the depth of the loss felt by their colleagues and families.
The naming of the crew brought the human cost of the crash into sharp focus, with each of the three now publicly identified as the military and their loved ones come to terms with what happened. The deaths of Lieutenant Fisher, Lieutenant Commander Gason and Petty Officer Green have been mourned as a significant loss to their squadrons.
With the crew now named, attention turns to establishing the circumstances of the crash. A fatal accident involving a military helicopter during a training exercise is certain to be the subject of a detailed investigation, as the armed forces work to determine what went wrong near Okehampton and whether any lessons must be learned to protect other crews in the future.