U.S. Military Plane Crashes in Kyrgyzstan

U.S. military plane crashed in Kyrgyzstan
today, shortly after taking off from the
Manas Transit Center .
The aircraft was a KC-135, a refueling
tanker based on the Boeing 707. It is not
immediately clear how many passengers
were on board, but such tankers usually
carry only a handful of crew members.
Col. Dzhambulbek Dzumagolov , the head of
the rescue mission, told ABC News he
believes there were no survivors, but added
that they have not yet recovered any
remains.
The Air Force issued a statement confirmed
the crash, saying "the status of the crew is
unknown" and adding that the cause
remains under investigation. The Air Force
said the crew and plane were based at
Manas.
The plane went down about 2:30 p.m. near
the village of Chaldovar, less than 100 miles
from the capital of Bishkek and near the
border with Kazakhstan, according to a
spokesman for the Kyrgyz Emergency
Situations Ministry. Witnesses told the
Russia's state-owned news agency RIA
Novosti they heard a big boom in the sky
and that the plane broke into several parts.
Debris has been found over a large area.
"Everything around is burning," a witness
told RIA Novosti.
Two teams of 17 rescue workers have been
able to reach the crash site, the ministry
said, which is located in a mountainous
area. Helicopters are also searching from
the sky. The ministry has requested that
additional rescuers be sent to the scene.
Russia's Interfax news agency, quoting local
media, reports that a wing from the plane
landed on or near a house belonging to a
shepherd. According to the report there are
no reports yet of injuries on the ground.
The Manas Transit Center is the primary
hub for troops and equipment coming in
and out of Afghanistan.
The Kyrgyz government has set up a
committee to investigate the cause of the
crash.