U.S. military plane crashes in Iraq as status of crew is unknown, officials said

Washington — An American military aerial refueling tanker that was involved in the U.S. military operation in Iran crashed in Western Iraq on Thursday, according to multiple U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News. 

Recovery efforts are underway in the area where a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker crashed. The status of the crew is unknown at this time. A second Stratotanker was damaged but landed safely. 

According to flight tracking service FlightRadar24, a KC-135 tanker declared an emergency before landing in Tel Aviv Thursday evening.

U.S. Central Command released a statement Thursday afternoon saying both aircraft were involved in the same incident, and it was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire. 

This marks the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft to crash as a part of Operation Epic Fury. Last Monday, the U.S. military also confirmed that three F-15E Strike Eagles were downed in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwait, but all 6 crew members safely ejected. 

Each branch of service has their own terminology for launching recovery missions of a downed aircraft but generally they’re called Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel, or TRAP, missions. These types of missions rapidly deploy after an aircraft crash and can be dangerous, as U.S. forces race to secure the crash site before enemy forces can. The goal is to retrieve pilots or crew members — who may be injured or deceased — and retrieve or destroy sensitive equipment that remains intact. 

This is a developing story and will be updated.