BISHKEK: A US military refuelling plane crashed yesterday in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan shortly after taking off from a base that serves as a key hub for the campaign in Afghanistan, leaving the fate of its three American crew unknown.
The KC-135 Stratotanker — believed to be carrying dozens of tonnes of fuel — crashed and burst into flames around 50 kilometres west of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, US and local officials said.
The cause of the disaster — which took place around 2.55 pm local time — was not immediately clear. Images from the scene showed ash and isolated pieces of wreckage were all that remained of the burned-out plane.
“A US Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft crashed today in northern Kyrgyzstan. Emergency response crews are on scene,” the aircraft’s base, the Manas Transit Centre, said in a statement.
“The status of the crew is unknown,” it added. “The cause of the crash is under investigation.”
Kyrgyz officials said that search operations were being called off for the night and would resume in the morning. The interior ministry said that the site of the accident was under guard.
The Manas transit centre in Bishkek airport, is key to US military operations in Afghanistan, used to ferry troops into the country, refuel warplanes and evacuate wounded soldiers.
Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Minister Kubatbek Boronov told Kyrgyz media after rushing to the scene that it was possible no trace of the crew would ever be found.
“I cannot exclude that the three American pilots could have died after being burned alive in the explosion,” he said.
He told Kyrgyz radio that the plane’s black box had been found but no human remains, which could have burnt up in the blaze.
The head of Kyrgyzstan’s transport prosecutors, Kuvan Mamakeyev, said from the scene that debris from the crashed plane could have scattered over a radius of up to 20 kilometres.
Some witnesses quoted by Kyrgyz media said that a pilot had apparently been seen parachuting out of the plane.
AFP
