US Navy fighter jet worth $60 million lost at sea after it fell off aircraft carrier during Houthi attack

A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet was lost after it fell off the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier into the Red Sea on Monday, the Navy said. The accident injured one sailor. A tractor that was towing the fighter plane, a model that cost $67 million in 2021, also slipped off the ship into the sea. 

"The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard," the Navy said in a statement. 

"Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. All personnel are accounted for, with one sailor sustaining a minor injury," it said. 

USS Harry S Truman is currently in the Red Sea. It is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East from where the US military's major operations against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels are conducted. 

Initial reports suggested that the incident happened when Truman made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire, which led to the fighter jet falling overboard. 

CNN quoted a second US official as saying that the aircraft had sunk. An individual F/A-18 fighter jet costs more than $60 million, according to the Navy.

As per reports, the aircraft carrier and its other planes remain in action and the incident is under investigation, the Navy added. It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in less than six months after another was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser late last year in an incident that both pilots survived. 

Yemen's Huthi-controlled media on Monday said the toll from US strikes on a detention centre for migrants has risen to 68.

"The civil defence has announced that 68 African migrants were killed and 47 others wounded in the US attack targeting a centre for illegal migrants in the city of Saadah," Huthis' Al-Masirah TV said.

Iran condemned the strikes. In a statement, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the strikes "on civilian targets, vital infrastructure and people's homes in various parts of Yemen... a war crime."

The USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) is a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the US Navy, named after the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S Truman. 

The carrier measures 1,092 feet in length, 257 feet in width, and 244 feet in height, equivalent to a 24-story building. It can accommodate around 90 aircraft and has a flight deck spanning 4.5 acres. 

The carrier is powered by two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors, enabling it to steam over three million miles without refuelling. It can reach speeds of over 30 knots (56 km/h or 35 mph) with its four five-bladed propellers.