LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nine people died in a crash involving two Army Black Hawk helicopters in Kentucky, according to a military spokesman.

The crash took place at 10 p.m. Wednesday in Cadiz, Kentucky, according to Brig. Gen. John Lucas of the 101st Airborne Division. Cadiz is in Trigg County.

"On behalf of Major General McGee and Command Sergeant Major Knapp, who are currently deployed to southeast Europe, I would like to express our deepest sympathies to the families of our fallen soldiers," Lucas said. 

It happened during a training exercise when the two helicopters were flying formation using night goggles, according to Lucas. He said all nine of the deaths involved servicemembers, and they were split up, with five on one helicopter and four on the other.

He said both helicopters on such training missions would typically have a pilot, a co-pilot, a crew chief and one or more medics.

A safety team is coming from Fort Rucker, Alabama, to investigate and plans to pull data from the onboard computers of both helicopters.

"They do have something very similar to the black boxes that we see on the larger aircraft, and we're hopeful that that will provide quite a bit of information of what occurred," Lucas said.

Lucas was unable to release the identities of the victims as of Thursday morning. He said the base had already begun notifying their families, but many were either out of state or out of the country, making some notifications difficult. He said the identities would not be released publicly until all of the families had been notified. 

"This is a truly tragic loss for our families, our division and Fort Campbell, and our Number One priority is caring for the families and the soldiers within our Combat Aviation Brigade," he said. "Our entire Fort Campbell community is surging resources and support, and our thoughts and prayers are with these families and these soldiers during this difficult time."

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters during the Thursday morning news conference that it was a "tough day" for Kentucky, and for Fort Campbell in particular.

"The nine individuals we lost are children of God," he said. "They will be mourned and missed by their families, by their communities. We are blessed to live in the freest country in the history of planet Earth, but we must remember that that freedom relies on those willing to serve, some of which pay the ultimate price.

"My faith teaches me that while the body is mortal, the soul is eternal and we will see them again."

Several agencies responded to the crash, including Kentucky State Police, Trigg County Emergency Management, Trigg Sheriff's Office, Christian County Sheriff's Office, Trigg Rescue Squad, Marshall County Rescue Squad, East Golden Pond and other Trigg County fire departments, Trigg County EMS and Christian County Emergency Management.

Nick Tomaszewski, who lives about a mile from where the crash occurred, said he saw two helicopters flying over his house moments before the crash.

“For whatever reason last night my wife and I were sitting there looking out on the back deck and I said “Wow, those two helicopters look low and they look kind of close to one another tonight,’” he said.

The helicopters flew over and looped back around and moments later “we saw what looked like a firework went off in the sky.”

“All of the lights in their helicopter went out. It was like they just poofed ... and then we saw a huge glow like a fireball,” Tomaszewski said.

Flyovers for training exercises happen almost daily and the helicopters typically fly low but not so close together, he said.

“There were two back to back. We typically see one and then see another one a few minutes later, and we just saw two of them flying together last night,” he said.

Members of the Kentucky Senate stood for a moment of silence Thursday morning in honor of the crash victims.

“We do not know the extent of what has gone on, but I understand it is bad and there has been a substantial loss of life of our military,” Senate President Robert Stivers told the somber chamber.

Last month, two Tennessee National Guard pilots were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed along an Alabama highway during a training exercise.