On the same day that President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between the United States and Yemen’s Houthis, an F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed off the deck of an aircraft carrier. The fighter was landing on USS Harry S. Truman when the “arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard,” U.S. Central Command told The Intercept by email.
After the $60 million jet’s tail hook failed to catch the wire that slows down the aircraft, it plummeted into the Red Sea. Two aviators ejected from the jet and were plucked from the water by a search and rescue helicopter. Both were injured, according to an unnamed CENTCOM official.
The injured aviators are the latest in a growing number of casualties in the Middle East that the Trump White House prefers to ignore. As The Intercept reported last week, CENTCOM, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the White House are keeping the total number of U.S. casualties from the war secret.
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