New York, September 9, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the death of our colleague Larry Greene, a 24-year veteran cameraman for the Los Angelesbased television station KCBS.
Greene died Friday, September 6, when a Navy helicopter crashed over the Persian Gulf. According to several news reports, the helicopter, which carried Greene and four sailors, “had been hovering over a Syrian-flagged vessel” observing a routine health inspection and “crashed when the rotor blade struck the ship’s mast,” said Brig. Gen. John Rosa, the deputy operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The helicopter, attached to the cruiser USS Mobile Bay, belongs to the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet, which is part of an operation to enforce U.N. sanctions on Iraq.
All four sailors survived the crash with minor injuries
