Two crew members of a US army helicopter that crashed near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday were rescued by an American sea drone, US officials have told CBS News, the BBC’s media partner. It was the first such operation carried out by US forces, the officials added. US Central Command (Centcom) earlier said the two “soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition” after their AH-64 Apache helicopter went down “near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters”. It was not immediately clear whether the aircraft had developed a mechanical or any other technical problem, or had been downed by Iranian fire. The incident is being investigated. In its statement on Tuesday, Centcom said the two crew members had been rescued at 19:33 EDT (23:33 GMT) on Monday.

Full report : Drone Boat Rescues Crew of Downed U.S. Apache Helicopter Near Hormuz.