MC-12 Crash: Three Americans Killed In Eastern Afghanistan When Surveillance Plane Crashes
An MC-12 crash in Afghanistan has left three Americans dead, part of a deadly week in which at least 10 Americans were killed in aircraft accidents.
Though there are still few details of the MC-12 crash, a defense officials confirmed that it was not taken down by enemy fire. The MC-12 is mounted with multiple cameras an is traditionally used as a surveillance plane.
“Two International Security Assistance Force service members and one ISAF civilian died following an aircraft mishap in eastern Afghanistan today,” a NATO spokesman said in a statement to the New York Daily News. “It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.”
The MC-12 crash comes at the end of a week in which at least 10 Americans have already been killed in aircraft crashes. On Tuesday an Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed along the English coast during a training mission, killing the four crew members on board.
The following day, an MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter went down off the coast of Virginia, leaving two people killed and another missing and presumed dead. Two crew members were rescued after the crash.
Reports Thursday also confirmed that Taliban insurgents took down a helicopter in December, killing six Americans. Initial reports said that the helicopter crashed because of mechanical problems.
In the MC-12 crash, the dead included one civilian employee and two service members in a US-led international coalition. In all four NATO troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, including two killed in separate suicide attacks.
