Other Marine UH-34Ds from Da Nang joined in the rescue operation, refueling from the TAFDS at Quang Ngai for the flight into the mountains. The situation was complicated further when a second Marine helicopter experienced a power loss and crashed near the burned-out UH-34D hulk while attempting to land a rescue team composed of MABS-16 Marines. Fortunately, the aircraft did not burn and the only injury incurred in the crash was a sprained ankle, but the extremely steep and densely jungled terrain kept the Marines from reaching the site of the other downed helicopter. Bad weather and darkness prevented further efforts to extricate the various American and South Vietnamese personnel from the jungle that day. During the night Captain Webster died of injuries. The next day, the Marines stripped a UH-34D of some 700 pounds of equipment so as to enable it to operate more efficiently at the extreme elevations in the vicinity of the crash sites. After carefully maneuvering the helicopter into a hovering position, the pilot was able to extract the survivors and the dead copilot from the site where the first UH-34D had crashed and burned. The survivors were flown to Quang Ngai. There the wounded were treated and later evacuated by U.S. Air Force transport to an American hospital at Nha Trang. While these events were taking place, the Marines from the second downed helicopter, guided by search aircraft operating over the area, located and recovered the injured Army Mohawk pilot. This accomplished, the Marines hacked out a small clearing from which they were evacuated by another Marine helicopter. The episode was not yet over, however, as the crashed OV-1 and its payload of advanced electronics equipment still had not been secured. Finally, an ARVN ranger company, which had joined the search, reached the remnants of the Mohawk and established security around the site while U.S. Army technicians were helilifted in to examine the debris. The Marine UH-34D, which had crashed nearby without burning and was damaged beyond repair, was cannibalized for usable parts and then destroyed. On 13 March, with the search and rescue tasks completed, Marine helicopters began shuttling South Vietnamese rangers to Mang Buc, a nearby government outpost. During this phase of the mission the helicopters received fire from Viet Cong who had moved into positions near the rangers’ perimeter. Three UH-34Ds delivered suppressive fire on the enemy with their door-mounted M-60 machine guns while the remaining helicopters picked up the troops in the landing zone. This was the first recorded instance of a Marine helicopter providing close air support in actual combat.