Five US service members killed in Mediterranean plane crash
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WASHINGTON - Five American service members were killed when a military aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean during a training exercise, the US European Command (EUCOM) said Sunday.
EUCOM did not specify the type of plane or where it was flying from, but the United States has deployed a carrier strike group to the area as part of efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a regional conflict.
“During a routine air refueling mission as part of military training, a US military aircraft carrying five service members suffered a mishap and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. All five of the service members onboard the aircraft were killed,” EUCOM said in a statement on the November 10 accident.
Washington rushed military support to Israel and bolstered its forces in the region – including with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and other warships – after the Hamas militant group carried out a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people.
Israel’s military responded with a relentless air, land and naval assault on Gaza that the territory’s health ministry said has left more than 11,000 people dead.
US forces in the region have faced a spike in attacks linked to the conflict in recent weeks and have been targeted more than 40 times since mid-October, leaving dozens of American personnel with minor injuries.
Washington has blamed Teheran-backed militias for the violence and has carried out three strikes against Iran-linked sites in Syria – two on October 26 and one on Wednesday.
There have been multiple other crashes of US military aircraft in recent years, including an F-35 stealth warplane that went down in September, with the pilot able to eject.
In March, two US Army helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers on board.
Four US Marines were killed during Nato exercises in Norway last year when their V-22B Osprey aircraft went down.
And in 2021, two US Navy pilots ejected from their T-45C Goshawk jet shortly before it crashed during a training exercise near Fort Worth, Texas. AFP
