US Air Force Pilots Who Died in Parachute Training Identified - Reports

The names of two US Air Force pilots who died from injuries sustained during parachute training earlier have been released, The Air Force Times reported Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Tech Sergeant Timothy Officer, 32, and Tech Sergeant Marty Bettelyoun, 35, were injured Monday at the northwest Florida-based Eglin Air Force Base freefall exercise.

The outlet cited a 24th Special Operations Wing commander praising Bettelyoun and Officer as professional and dedicated airmen “prepared to give their lives in service to their countries.”

“Our community has taken a huge loss with their deaths, and they will be sorely missed,” Colonel Wolfe Davidson said.

The Eglin base faced a similar tragedy earlier this year.

A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with seven Marines and four Army soldiers on board crashed in March during a military exercise. The Air Force said the accident was unlikely to have left any survivors.

The circumstances surrounding the latest incident are unlikely to be released amid an ongoing investigation, which the Special Operations Wing press statement said can take up to a year to complete.