A Royal Navy service member dies after a helicopter ditches in the English Channel

LONDON -- A member of the Royal Navy was killed when a helicopter ditched in the English Channel during a nighttime training exercise, the U.K. defense ministry said Thursday.

The Merlin MK4 helicopter carrying a crew of three ditched while conducting night flying exercises with the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth off England’s south coast on Wednesday, a statement by the ministry said.

The sailor’s family has been informed, the statement added. The two other crew were rescued and taken to a hospital but were not seriously hurt.

The ministry said “a full investigation” would be held.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “deeply saddened" by the death and paid tribute to the crew of the Queen Elizabeth, “particularly those involved in the search and rescue operation.”

Defense Secretary John Healey, on a visit to a navy warship in the port of Portsmouth, said it was “dreadful news.”

“All my thoughts and the thoughts of those in the wider navy I’ve been with today are with the family, the friends and the close colleagues of the one we’ve lost today,” he said.

The Queen Elizabeth is one of the British navy’s two aircraft carriers, alongside HMS Prince of Wales. The navy uses the Merlin mark-4 as an amphibious battlefield helicopter to deploy Royal Marine commandos.