U.S. 6th Fleet Aids in Ethiopian Airlines Search and Rescue Efforts Off Coast of Lebanon

At the request of the government of Lebanon and U.S. Department of State, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa, U.S. 6th Fleet, is coordinating assets in support of search and rescue efforts off the coast of Lebanon, January 25, 2010. <br



By US AFRICOM Public Affairs U.S. Sixth Fleet Public Affairs NAPLES, Italy Jan 25, 2010
At the request of the government of Lebanon and U.S. Department of State, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Africa, U.S. 6th Fleet, is coordinating assets in support of search and rescue efforts off the coast of Lebanon, January 25, 2010.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET409 crashed shortly after take-off from Beirut International Airport en route to Ethiopia. Within hours, a U.S. P-3 Orion aircraft and the USS Ramage (DDG 61) arrived on scene and were assisting the on-scene commander from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The P-3 Orion aircraft has departed the scene at this time.

Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet will continue to work with all participating parties and affected governments as the situation progresses.

Both the P-3 and Ramage were conducting regularly scheduled missions in the Eastern Mediterranean at the time of the crash.
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