The Air Force is searching for an airman who fell from an C-130 Hercules transport aircraft during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico, the service announced on Tuesday.
The airman, assigned to the 24th Special Operations Wing, “exited his aircraft during a jump training scenario over the Gulf of Mexico approximately 4 miles south” of Hurlburt Field in Florida, according to an Air Force statement.
Multiple Coast Guard crews are assisting the Air Force with the search, Coast Guard Petty Officer Kamil Zdankowski told the Northwest Florida Daily News.
FLorida ABC News affiliate WEAR-TV reports that the airman, a staff sergeant, exited the aircraft at around 1,500 feet and managed to deploy his parachute before hitting the water.
Crew members aboard the C-130 “initially saw the airman treading water but lost sight of him while making a turn in an effort to pick him up,” Fox News reports.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.