All 6 crew members killed in crash of American KC-135 refueling plane in Iraq, U.S. navy confirms

The U.S. navy’s Central Command confirmed Friday that every one six U.S. service members had been killed yesterday when an aerial refueling plane collaborating in operations in opposition to Iran crashed in western Iraq.

“The circumstances of the incident are beneath investigation. Nevertheless, the lack of the plane was not attributable to hostile hearth or pleasant hearth,” CENTCOM mentioned in its assertion, shared on social media.

It mentioned the identities of the service members killed within the crash can be withheld till 24 hours after their households had been notified. The crash brings the overall variety of U.S. service members killed for the reason that U.S. and Israel launched the conflict with Iran on Feb. 28 to 13, together with six forces killed in an Iranian strike on Kuwait and one killed in Saudi Arabia.

U.S. officers have advised CBS Information they imagine the incident could have concerned a mid-air collision, however they had been nonetheless investigating.

“Conflict is hell, conflict is chaos, and as we noticed yesterday with the tragic crash of our KC-135 tanker, dangerous issues can occur,” Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned throughout a information convention on the Pentagon on Friday morning. “American heroes, all of them.”

Air Drive Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, mentioned the crew was on a fight mission however flying over pleasant territory when the crash occurred.

“Please hold these courageous airmen, their households, mates and items in your ideas within the coming hours and days,” Caine mentioned. “Our service members make an unimaginable sacrifice to go ahead and do the issues that the nation asks of them. It is a reminder of the true price of the dedication and dedication of the joint pressure.”

Officers advised CBS Information on Thursday {that a} second U.S. Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker was broken however landed safely on Thursday, however there have been no additional particulars out there on that plane by Friday morning. In keeping with flight monitoring service FlightRadar24, a KC-135 tanker declared an emergency earlier than touchdown in Tel Aviv Thursday night.

The primary airplane went down close to Turaibil, which is alongside the Iraqi-Jordanian border, an Iraqi intelligence supply advised CBS Information.

Central Command mentioned in a earlier assertion on Thursday that each plane had been concerned in the identical incident.

It was the fourth publicly acknowledged U.S. plane crash related to Operation Epic Fury. Final Monday, the U.S. navy confirmed that three F-15E Strike Eagles had been shot down in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwait, however all six crew members safely ejected.  

Every department of service has its personal terminology for launching restoration missions of a downed plane however typically they’re known as Tactical Restoration of Plane and Personnel, or TRAP, missions. These kinds of missions quickly deploy after an plane crash and might be harmful, as U.S. forces race to safe the crash website earlier than enemy forces can. The purpose is to retrieve pilots or crew members — who could also be injured or deceased — and retrieve or destroy delicate tools that is still intact.