Four US Navy sailors aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier were injured on Monday evening when an aircraft suffered a “mishap” while trying to land on the ship off the coast of Virginia, with two aviators ejecting from the plane, the Navy said in a statement.
“At approximately 6:18 p.m. EDT on Sept. 28, a mishap occurred during aircraft recovery operations aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier,” the US Navy statement said.
The circumstances of the incident were unknown, and the Navy did not specify the nature of the mishap.
The two aviators who ejected from the aircraft were “promptly recovered” by search-and-rescue personnel and safely returned to the ship, where they were undergoing medical evaluations, the statement said.
Of the four injured sailors, one was evacuated to a hospital in the Norfolk area for treatment of “non-life-threatening injuries,” while the others were treated on the ship, the Navy said.
The statement did not name the type of aircraft involved, but the Eisenhower normally carries F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters and EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets, both of which could carry a crew of two.
A spokesperson told CNN the Navy would report more details as they become available.
The Eisenhower completed a planned 15-month maintenance and repair period in April and, as recently as late August, was conducting carrier qualifications off the Virginia coast, according to recent Defense Department press releases.
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