The cockpit and tail of the USAF plane broke off. Picture / Reuters
DOVER - A US Air Force C-5 Galaxy cargo plane crashed and broke apart short of the runway at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware yesterday but all 17 people on board survived, although many were taken to hospital.
The plane took off from Dover and was due to fly
to Spain before heading to Kuwait.
"After taking off there was some type of in-flight emergency, and when it returned to the base it landed short of the runway," said Air Force spokesman Captain John Sheets.
The plane lay a few hundred metres from the runway, with the cockpit broken away and a wing damaged.
The tail section was about 200m from the rest of the plane.
Rescue workers sprayed the aircraft with protective foam and there was an odour of jet fuel in the air, but no sign of fire was evident.
The weather was reported as partly cloudy with winds of 11 km/h.
The C-5, made by Lockheed Martin, is one of the largest planes in the world.
- REUTERS
