The helicopter took off from the Octopus carrying two crew members at about 8 a.m. local time (1100 GMT). It was not clear why an emergency landing was necessary, Postman said.

In under three and a half minutes, the Chinook conducts an aquatic landing, opens its hatch, secures the soldiers' boat after it rides into the helicopter, and takes off. We have created GIF ...

Flight over sand drifts so featureless that on-board sensors could not determine the helicopter's orientation and velocity. The result was a "hard" sideways landing on a steep slope that spun ...