8 dead after B-52 crashes at Edwards Air Force Base in California

Officials characterized the incident as "an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable."

Eight people aboard a B-52 Stratofortress were killed Monday when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California.

Officials confirmed Monday evening that all eight people aboard the plane had been killed.

“We lost eight great Americans," said James Hayes, the the base's deputy commander, during a press conference.

The aircraft went down on the airfield at about 11:20 a.m., according to a Facebook post from the base.

Officials characterized the incident as "an unrecoverable crash and unsurvivable."

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The base will conduct a full investigation into the incident, which could extend for months, Hayes said.

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Edwards Air Force Base is located in the Mojave Desert, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

The base said its airfield is closed and all inbound aircraft are being diverted.

"All non-commercial visitor passes have been suspended until further notice to allow the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations," the base said in a statement.

The B-52 first entered service in the 1950s and remains one of the Air Force's primary long-range bombers. The aircraft is capable of carrying and deploying a wide range of conventional and nuclear weapons.

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