Former Fallon resident dies in Navy helicopter crash

A former Fallon resident is among those presumed dead after an HH-60 helicopter crashed in the Pacific Ocean earlier this week.

Crewman 3rd Class Sean M. Ward, 20, of Lovelock was one of the crew members on the helicopter. He had lived in Fallon and attended elementary school in Fallon before his family moved to Lovelock. He also played youth baseball in Fallon.

He was an all-state football player at Pershing County High School and was named as the most valuable player of the 2006 Sertoma Classic football game in Reno.

He also graduated from PCHS in 2006.

The Coast Guard suspended a search Thursday for two missing members of a Navy flight crew whose helicopter went down on a training flight southwest of San Diego.

Petty Officer Jetta Disco said the search was called off around noon and it's unlikely the two could have survived more than 36 hours in the ocean after Tuesday night's crash.

The bodies of three other crew members were recovered Wednesday. Navy officials said the other crew members on the HH-60 Seahawk helicopter were Lt. Cmdr. Eric Purvis, 37, of Poway; Lt. Allison Oubre, 27, of Slidell, La.; Crewman 1st Class Samuel Kerslake, 41, of Hot Springs, Ark.; and Crewman 2nd Class Aaron Clingman, 25, of Bend, Ore.

The Navy has not said which bodies were recovered but plans to continue searching for the wreckage. The helicopter was on a search-and-rescue training flight from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier when it crashed The crash is under investigation, Navy officials said.