Eight people, including two Boeing employees, have been killed after a US Air Force B-52 bomber crashed immediately after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in southern California, the BBC reports.
The incident occurred at 11:20 local time (19:20 GMT) on Monday while the aircraft had been on a routine test mission. The crash sent a huge plume of black smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
“Today, Edwards Air Force Base experienced a terrible tragedy, and we lost eight great Americans,” Col James Hayes said, describing them as a “mixed crew of military, government civilians and government contractors”.
The base earlier said that initial indications were that the crash “was not survivable”.
The crew’s next of kin were being notified and will be named 24 hours after that, Hayes said in an afternoon briefing.
The crash was “totally contained” within the Edwards Air Force Base on the runway, Hayes said, and the base has temporarily grounded operations.
