Six US soldiers killed as refueling plane crashes in Iraq due to apparent accident
Second tanker involved in incident safely lands at Ben Gurion Airport after sending out emergency signal
The US Central Command said Friday that all six crew members died after a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq in an apparent accident involving another tanker.
The military said the circumstances of the incident are being investigated. Earlier, US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” and that the other plane landed safely.
The military said the loss of the aircraft was “not due to hostile or friendly fire.”
The deaths of the crew members bring the total of American service members killed in the war with Iran to 13.
“The identities of the service members are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified,” the military said.
On Thursday, CENTCOM said in a statement: “The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing. Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.”
The second tanker involved in the incident landed at Ben Gurion Airport earlier in the evening. The aircraft had sent a “squawk code” of 7700, an international emergency signal, according to flight tracking data.
KC-135s, which have been in operation for more than 60 years, generally have a crew of three — a pilot, a copilot and a third person who operates the boom used to refuel other aircraft, according to the US Air Force. But some KC-135 missions require a navigator, and the aircraft can carry up to 37 passengers, an Air Force factsheet said.
The tanker is the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft to crash as part of the US military’s operations against Iran.
Last week, the military confirmed that three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire. All six crew members safely ejected from the F-15E Strike Eagles and were in stable condition after being recovered, the US said.
Seven American troops have been killed in combat during the Iran war so far. Six of the service members were killed when an Iranian drone struck an operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait. The seventh died after being wounded during an attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
About 140 US service members have been wounded, including eight severely, the Pentagon said earlier this week.
The Times of Israel Community.