8 crew members dead after B-52 bomber crashes at California’s Edwards Air Force Base

By Taylor Romine, Davis Winkie and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN

Smoke rises near Edwards Air Force Base after a US Air Force B-52 bomber crashed.

Eight crew members are dead in a B-52 bomber crash shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base, northeast of Los Angeles, on Monday morning (local time), the base said.

It is the deadliest crash involving a B-52 bomber since 1982. In that crash, nine crew members died in test training at the Mather Air Force Base near Sacramento, The Associated Press reported at the time.

The B-52 Stratofortress in Monday's crash was on a routine test mission that took off at 11,20am local time at the remote air base, officials said. It is now considered a recovery operation.