rescue teams helping with the search for seven marines and four soldiers feared dead after an army helicopter crashed during a night exercise said they are remaining 'optimistic' the uh 60 black hawk crashed in the gulf of mexico close to eglin air force base in the florida panhandle on tuesday night search teams have been combing the water for clues and said they are clinging to hope despite human remains being discovered debris from the crash has also washed up on shore, including the landing gear and the side of the helicopter with the glass from the windows missing scroll down for video  missing: seven marines and four soldiers are presumed dead after a uh 60 black hawk helicopter crashed in the gulf of mexico during a night training mission above, some of the debris that washed ashore on wednesday morning  survivors? pentagon officials say the 11 on board are presumed dead but local authorities stress that it is still a search and rescue mission   not search and recover above, a door or window from the helicopter  other parts thought to be from the helicopter have continued to wash up on the beach, including this wheel  washing up: a glove washed up on a stretch of military owned beach on wednesday morning following a black hawk helicopter crash around 12 hours earlier  foggy conditions remained on wednesday morning which forced the rescue teams to take an 'operational pause', an eglin air force base spokesman said the spokesman told nbc news: 'there is always room for optimism the fog has been hampering our search efforts, and more fog is continuing to roll in' the comments came as hundreds of people attended a vigil and lit candles for the missing servicemen dolly edwards, 35, said she attended the vigil, held on the end of a nearby pier, to pay her respects as the soldiers were only in the area for training 'my heart is really hurt right now knowing these people were here just on training — knowing they went and left their family members and did not give that goodbye, you know, because they weren't going off to war,' she told utsandiegocom norman caron, a retired airman, added: 'we just need to be here to pay respects' while a pentagon official said the men were presumed dead, the hunt for the crashed helicopter remains a search and rescue mission and not search and recovery thick fog: the are was under fog advisory when the crash took place military officials who spoke with daily mail online says local pilots are used to the conditions but the pilot who was flying at the time was from louisiana or north carolina above, a file photo of a uh 60 black hawk   not the one that crashed  hard to see: military personnel wade in the water and search on the beach under heavy fog at eglin air force base, florida on wednesday  a serviceman collects debris along the beach of what might be the wreckage of the military helicopter  evidence: a man walks the beach near where debris washed up wednesday morning following the helicopter crash, and appears to be picking up remnants of the crash  base officials said the marines were part of a camp lejeune based, 1 244th assault helicopter battalion from jacksonville, north carolina the soldiers were from a national guard unit based in hammond, louisiana the massive black hawk has been the workhorse of the us army since 1979 they are primarily used to ferry troops to and from the battlefields, and support aircraft, but adapted models carry out medical evacuations with state of the art equipment, search and rescue, armed escort and warfare missions black hawks were a central part of the us military attack on somalia capital, mogadishu in 1993 they were also used in military operations in the balkan region and haiti in the 1990s; and supported the 2003 invasion of iraq the aircraft has also been used prominently by the us military in afghanistan and iraq there are manufactured by sikorsky aircraft based in stratford, connecticut it flies low to the ground to avoid detection and its twin turbine engine can deliver a maximum speed of roughly 180mph during an afternoon press conference, major general glenn curtis of the louisiana national guard confirmed that all of his soldiers were male and that three had aided in the hurricane katrina response he described his men as 'tremendous pilots' and 'tremendous soldiers' two black hawks took off together from the base ahead of the crash on tuesday night it is unclear how many soldiers were on board the other aircraft a military spokesperson told daily mail online that training missions usually took off from eglin on a daily basis and said that it was up to individual units whether to fly in adverse weather conditions such as heavy fog fog was common in the region, the spokesperson said, and local pilots were used to the conditions  the pilot on the black hawk which crashed on tuesday night was from either louisiana or north carolina the helicopter was reported missing around 830pm on tuesday and search and rescue crews found debris from the crash around 2am on wednesday kim urr, 62, who works at the nearby navarre beach campground, said she heard a strange sound, followed by two explosions around 8:30 pm tuesday 'it sounded like something metal either being hit or falling over, that's what it sounded like and there were two booms afterward, similar to what you hear with ordnance booms, but more muffled,' urr said the tail rotor of the helicopter with its id number was found during the rescue mission, according to military officials names of those involved were not immediately released, pending notification of next of kin but mike spinks from eglin environmental public affairs told wkrg: 'there is always hope' the army helicopter took off from a nearby airport in destin and joined other aircraft in the training exercise the uh 60 helicopter went down during a routine training mission off a remote stretch of beach between pensacola and destin two helicopters were flying a night training mission, but only one of the helicopters returned above patrol boats search the waters near the crash site on wednesday  names or the gender of those involved have not yet been released, pending notification of next of kin above, another shot of rescue crews near navarre bridge on wednesday  a police officer cordons off an area on wednesday along a highway during a search and rescue mission close to the eglin air force base in the florida panhandle  eleven flags line the road across from the staging area where crews search waters  mike spaits, center, spokesman for eglin air force base, updates reporters at a command post in navarre, florida on wednesday, march 11  an okaloosa county ambulance sits at the eglin air force entrance in fort walton beach on wednesday seven marines and four soldiers aboard an army helicopter that crashed over waters off florida during a routine night training mission were presumed dead on wednesday  the search for the missing black hawk helicopter was being hampered by heavy fog in the florida panhandle on wednesday morning  the beach is owned by the military and is used for test missions the training area includes 20 miles of pristine beachfront that has been under the control of the military since before world war ii military police keep a close watch on the area and have been known to run off private vendors who rent jet skis or paddle boards without permission test range manager glenn barndollar said in august that the beach provides an ideal training area for special operations units from all branches of the military to practice over the water, on the beach and in the bay the military sometimes drops trainees over the water using boats or helicopters and the trainees must make their way onshore the black helicopter that crashed was a newer model that had a black box, which could shed light on what caused the crash if located military officials said on tuesday night that the names of those involved were not immediately released following the crash off eglin air force base pending notification of next of kin  the helicopter was reported missing around 830pm on tuesday after taking off from eglin air force base  the uh 60 helicopter went down during a routine training mission off a remote stretch of beach in the gulf of mexico in the florida panhandle, close to eglin air force base 
daily mail online camp lejeune jacksonville north carolina national guard hammond louisiana
seven marines and four soldiers  presumed dead, the military said  but rescue teams said they remain optimistic despite thick fog  debris was seen washing up on a military owned stretch of beach on wednesday morning  military spokesperson confirmed that human remains had been found but could not say from how many people  crash happened on tuesday night when area was under a fog advisory  local pilots were used to region's foggy conditions, military spokesperson told daily mail online, while out of town pilot may not have been  missing marines were from camp lejeune in jacksonville, north carolina  the soldiers were from a national guard unit in hammond, louisiana 