U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber crashes shortly after takeoff from California base

LOS ANGELES, June 15 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert on Monday, the base said.

The crash occurred at approximately 11:20 a.m. local time, the base wrote on X.

Emergency response teams were immediately dispatched to the scene, and response operations remain ongoing.

In a separate post on X, the military base announced that the airfield was closed and all inbound aircraft were being diverted.

All non-commercial visitor passes were suspended until further notice to allow the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations, the base said.