Eight people, including two employees of Boeing, have been killed after a United States Air Force B-52 bomber crashed immediately after take-off from Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. The incident, according to BBC occurred at about 11:20 local time (19:20 GMT) on Monday during a routine test mission,……
Eight people, including two employees of Boeing, have been killed after a United States Air Force B-52 bomber crashed immediately after take-off from Edwards Air Force Base in southern California.
The incident, according to BBC occurred at about 11:20 local time (19:20 GMT) on Monday during a routine test mission, sending a massive plume of black smoke into the sky that was visible from miles away.
Confirming the tragedy, Col James Hayes said the base had suffered a major loss involving a mixed team of personnel.
“Today, Edwards Air Force Base experienced a terrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans,” he said, describing the victims as a “mixed crew of military, government civilians and government contractors”.
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The Air Force base had earlier indicated that initial assessments suggested the crash “was not survivable”.
Hayes said the aircraft crashed immediately after take-off and burst into flames, adding that the impact was contained within the base’s runway area.
“The crash was totally contained within the Edwards Air Force Base on the runway,” he said, noting that operations at the facility have been temporarily grounded.
He also said initial video analysis led investigators to classify the incident as “an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable”.
California Governor Gavin Newsom described the crash as “a tragic incident” and extended condolences to the families of the victims and the military community at Edwards Air Force Base.
Aerial footage from the scene showed a burnt and heavily damaged area where the aircraft went down.
Following the crash, all inbound flights to the base were diverted, while non-commercial visitor access was suspended “until further notice” to allow emergency response operations to continue.
The B-52 Stratofortress, commonly referred to as “the Buff”, has been in service with the U.S. military since the 1950s and is a long-range strategic bomber capable of carrying heavy conventional and nuclear payloads.
The aircraft typically operates with a crew of five and is known for its long-range capabilities, including mid-air refuelling that allows extended mission endurance.
The base, located in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, remains under restricted operations as investigations continue.