KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Three airmen remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday after falling from a helicopter Tuesday in the Northern Training Area.

Three staff sergeants fell from a HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter and hit a gravel landing zone after a rope ladder broke, according to an Air Force spokesman. How far the airmen fell during the insertion/extraction training exercise has not been disclosed.

The airmen were transported about 30 miles south from the remote training zone to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Camp Lester.

All three are coherent and expected to recover, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

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