A U.S. Air Force C-130 crashed off the runway at Iraq’s Camp Taji Airbase on Monday, causing injuries to four service members.
Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins told Fox New that the aircraft “overshot the runway and crashed.”
“On June 8, approximately 10:10 p.m. (Iraq time), a U.S. Air Force C-130 landing at Camp Taji Airbase, Iraq overshot the runway and crashed into a wall resulting in structural damage to the plane and a small fire,” Caggins said.
“The airfield fire and rescue team were on the scene within 4 minutes, extinguished the fire, and assisted an evacuation of the plane,“ he added. ”Four Service Members on the plane sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are being treated at Camp Taji’s medical facility.”
“The quick actions of the airfield crash, fire and rescue team helped patients, and limited damage to equipment and infrastructure,” Caggins said.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft was designed as a troop and cargo transport aircraft.
Taji base, located near Baghdad, hosts American troops to advise and train Iraqi soldiers in the fight against the ISIS terrorist group.
The base has previously been targeted in missile attacks. Two Americans and a British national were killed in March during one such incident.
Taji was also one of several facilities that were targeted by the Iranian regime following the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad.
