8 crew members dead after B-52 bomber crashes at California’s Edwards Air Force Base

Eight crew members are dead in a B-52 bomber crash shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base, northeast of Los Angeles, on Monday morning, the base said.

It is the deadliest crash involving a B-52 bomber since 1982. In that crash, nine crew members died in test training at the Mather Air Force Base near Sacramento, The Associated Press reported at the time.

The B-52 Stratofortress in Monday’s crash was on a routine test mission that took off at 11:20 a.m. local time at the remote air base, officials said. It is now considered a recovery operation.

“It was tragic and unsurvivable,” Colonel James Hayes said at a news conference.

The B-52 bomber was performing a test supporting the radar modernization program, Air Force officials said.

Military officials will start investigating what happened, but the exact details won’t be available to the public for around six months, Hayes said.