CINDY CLAYTON
The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH

Five parachutists from a Navy special warfare unit became trapped in trees Tuesday in a remote part of Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story and were rescued with the help of the city Fire Department.


It took about two hours to get them all down.

The city was called to help military rescue workers about 9:30 a.m., said Bruce Nedelka, the city's emergency medical services division chief.

One of the five service members fell to the ground when a tree limb broke, Nedelka said, and was taken to a Norfolk hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Three ambulances, two fire engines, two ladder trucks, two specialty rescue trucks and two battalion chiefs were dispatched to the scene, Nedelka said.

The five service members, assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2, were on a routine parachute-training exercise, said Chief Petty Officer Robert Fluegel, a Navy spokesman. He said the accident is under investigation.

Special warfare teams include SEALs, the Navy's secretive, highly trained sea-air-land commandos. Fluegel would not say if the five parachutists were SEALs.

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June 16, 2010