Family says Yucca Valley Marine wasn’t on missing helicopter in Nepal

The family of a Marine Corps sergeant from Yucca Valley says he’s safe and wasn’t on the USMC helicopter that disappeared while carrying out humanitarian duties in Nepal.

KESQ and CBS Local 2 were contacted by a woman on Wednesday morning who says she’s the mother-in-law of Sgt. Juan J. Alcarez. She said her son-in-law is safe, and although the helicopter is still missing, he wasn’t on board.

We’re working to confirm more details with Alcarez’ family Wednesday afternoon.

Reports state six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were aboard the UH-1Y Huey.

Defense Video and Imagery Distribution, a private company specializing in public relations for U.S. military units deployed overseas, identified Alcarez as a crew chief for Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469, which is based at Camp Pendleton.

Under the headline “Yucca Valley, California, native responds to Nepal earthquake,” DVIDS’ website showed a photograph of Alcarez that it said was taken at Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport Saturday. Because of Alcarez’ connection to the helicopter and humanitarian effort, confusion started to mount about whether or not he was actually one of the missing Marines.

The helicopter was reported missing hours after a magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck midway between the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu and Mount Everest at 11:50 p.m. Monday.

This followed the magnitude-7.8 quake of April 25, which is reported to have killed more than 8,000 people.

The helicopter disappeared as it was delivering aid to survivors and evacuating casualties to Kathmandu, according to a statement by Joint Task Force 505, which is overseeing the U.S. contributions to the relief operation.

The search for the missing helicopter continues on Wednesday.