23 November 2015, 11:32 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – US Coast Guard officials said that the non-stop five-day search that failed to spot any signs of the missing marines was switched to a recovery operation to locate debris and remains, ABC News broadcaster reported Tuesday.
The military helicopters crashed during an exercise last week and landed in the water near the north shore of Hawaiian island of Oahu. Each of the helicopters carried six people on board.
The US Coast Guard started the search operation shortly following the incident, and was assisted by local emergency and police units. The search conditions were challenging due to high surf.
The rescuers managed to find all four rafts from the helicopters but they were empty and without any signs that someone might have used them.
