B-1 Bomber Crashes in Indian Ocean; All Four Crew Members Rescued
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rescuers from a Navy destroyer plucked four U.S. airmen out of the Indian Ocean Wednesday after their Air Force B-1 bomber crashed on a long-range mission to Afghanistan.
"The crew is reportedly in good condition," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
The crew declared an in-flight emergency about 100 miles north of Diego Garcia, a British-controlled island from which the plane took off, Davis said. The crew was rescued at about 11:30 a.m. EST by a U.S. Navy destroyer that was dispatched to the scene along with a Navy P-3 Orion plane and an Air Force KC-10 aerial refueling plane.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The crew apparently were in the water for about two hours.
The B-1B went down about 60 miles north of Diego Garcia, a position that would indicate the pilot had turned back toward the island after declaring an emergency.
It was the first fixed-wing U.S. warplane to go down since the war began Oct. 7 and the first B1-B to crash on a combat mission since the supersonic long-range bomber became operational in 1987.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The $200 million B-1 has been used extensively in the war in Afghanistan, along with B-52 heavy bombers. Both aircraft fly from Diego Garcia.
A KC-10 refueling tanker flew to the crash site and established voice contact with a member of the bomber crew, according to a statement by U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing combat operations in Afghanistan. The KC-10 crew saw a strobe light blinking at the crash site.
Later, the Navy destroyer USS Russell arrived and launched a small vessel, known as a rigid hull inflatable boat, which rescued the crew. The B-1B's home base is Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., home of the 28th Bomb Wing, Pentagon officials said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There was no indication of the cause of the crash, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said.
"This underscores what we try to remember all the time — that the men and women in the U.S. military put their lives at risk every single day," Clarke said. "And we're grateful."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.