A US Air Force KC-135R Stratotanker issued an emergency squawk 7700 near the Strait of Hormuz before vanishing from radar, flight tracking data has shown.The aircraft, registration 62-3578 and operating from Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, squawked 7700 — the international code for a general emergency — while flying over the Arabian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
It descended and manoeuvred towards Qatar before its transponder signal disappeared from Flightradar24 about an hour later. The event has focused fresh attention on the Gulf, where electronic interference is hardly a surprise.
