The US military confirmed yesterday the deaths of 10 US troops in the crash of two helicopters off the coast of northern Djibouti on Friday, according to a statement.
"Next-of-kin notifications have been made to all family members of the deceased; however, names are being withheld in deference to family members' privacy," the US-led Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa said in a statement.
The troops included US Marines and two Air Force airmen, according to the statement.
"Our deepest sympathy and heartfelt prayers go out to the family members, friends, loved ones and co-workers of our fallen brothers- and sisters-in-arms," said Major General Timothy Ghormley, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa commanding general. "We mourn their loss and honor their memory."
Two CH-53E choppers were carrying 12 crew and troops when they crashed in the Gulf of Aden, near the northern coastal town of Ras Siyyan. The troops were members of a US counterterrorism force deployed in the Horn of Africa nation.
Two crew members were rescued by the Djibouti military. They were in stable condition and were flown to the US military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on Saturday.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the crash, said Major Susan Romano, spokeswoman of the task force.
Visibility had been good at the time of the crash, with light winds, authorities said.
The family of Marine pilot Susan Craig said she was one of those rescued.
Craig, 28, telephoned her parents, Pat and Lewis Sackett on Saturday afternoon, her mother said in an interview with a local newspaper.
Pat Sackett said her daughter called from Kuwait and was heading to a hospital in Germany. Craig was rescued by Djiboutian military personnel, Sackett said.
She said her daughter was not sure what caused the crash.
"They had an inflatable around their neck that they inflated, and they hung onto a piece of the aircraft," she said. "It was three hours before they were rescued."
The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, set up in the former French colony in June 2002, is responsible for fighting terrorism in nine countries in the region: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia in Africa and Yemen on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
The region has suffered four attacks either claimed by or attributed to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. In August 1998, car bombs destroyed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; in October 2000 suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole while it was refueling in Yemen; and in November 2002 attackers tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner minutes before a car bomb destroyed a hotel on Kenya's coast.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS