Five US service members were killed after their helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean during a training exercise.
The aircraft had been on a “routine air refuelling mission” when it suffered a “mishap” and plunged into the sea on Friday evening, the US Eastern Command said in a statement.
A search and rescue mission launched by nearby US military aircraft and ships recovered all five members’ bodies, officials said. Their identities will be released once next of kin have been notified.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the fallen,” the Eastern Command statement said. “An investigation into the crash is underway.”
US forces in the Eastern Mediterranean had been on high alert due to escalating tensions following Israel’s invasion of Gaza, but officials stressed the deaths were not the result of hostile activity.
President Joe Biden and his wife Jill expressed their condolences to the families of the victims.
“Jill and I are praying for the families and friends who have lost a precious loved one — a piece of their soul,” the president said, noting the crash took place on the eve of Veterans Memorial day weekend.
The US rushed military support to Israel and bolstered its own forces in the region after Hamas launched terror attacks across the border from Gaza on October 7, killing about 1,200 people.
Washington deployed a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean as a warning to Iran andits allies not to allow the war to spiral into a regional conflict.
There have been several crashes of American military aircraft in recent years, including an F-35 stealth jet that went down in September, with the pilot able to eject.
