Amerikansk tankfly gikk i lufta

U.S. Military Jet Crashes In Kyrgyzstan

 

 KC-135s on the tarmac at the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan. 

A U.S. Air Force refueling jet has crashed in Kyrgyzstan near the Manas air base, according to Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Emergency Situations (MChS).

The plane exploded in mid-air, said a local official, reports Kloop.kg: "The former mayor of the Panfilov region Taalaybek Sydykov said in an interview with Kloop.kg, that... 'Residents of the region who were working in the fields say that there was an explosion in the air and the plane fell behind the mountains.'" A couple of twitter users reported the same.

An MChS official told AFP that the plane, apparently KC-135 Stratotanker, crashed after taking off:

"According to my information, the plane broke up into three pieces. Information on the dead or wounded is being clarified. All the rescue services have gone to the scene," the ministry's press secretary Abdisharip Bekilov said.

The plane crashed near the mountain village of Chaldybar, around 200 kilometres from the capital Bishkek and close to the border with Kazakhstan, the emergency ministry spokesman said.

Information about who may have been on board is still sketchy, but CA-News reports, citing MChS sources, that there were five crew members on the flight.

The last crash of a KC-135 seems to have been in 1991.

So far there is no word from the U.S. military officials at Manas.