A crew member and a tow tractor operator had to jump to safety when an F/A 18 fighter jet fell off the hangar deck of the USS Harry S. Truman and into the Red Sea.

The crew member was inside the cockpit of the Super Hornet when the “F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the Navy said in a statement.

The crew member who had to jump from the plane had a minor injury.

The fighter jet is worth more than $60 million and it is not known if it will be recovered.

Aircraft are towed around the hangar deck as they are parked awaiting missions or undergoing repairs.

The incident is under investigation, with the Navy saying that the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group and the air wing are fully mission capable.

No official cause as to why the plane slipped from the carrier has been released, but several media outlets, including The Washington Post, CNN and ABC News, reported that the Truman was trying to evade a Houthi attack.

This is not the first issue that the Truman has had recently. The carrier collided with a merchant vessel in an Egyptian port last year. The ship’s commanding officer was removed from his position, The Washington Post reported.

One of the Truman’s F/A-18’s was shot down by the cruiser USS Gettysburg in the Red Sea in December, CNN reported.

Another plane, an F/A-18 Super Hornet, also fell off the carrier near Naples, Italy, when high winds blew it overboard in 2022, Fox News reported.

The Truman was deployed to the Red Sea in September, ABC News reported. It is there to protect commercial ships against attacks.

It is there in a campaign against the Houthis in the region, the Post reported. The U.S. military has hit more than 800 targets since stepping up its fight against the Iran-backed group in mid-March. The Defense Department will “continue to ratchet up the pressure” until “freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region” is restored, U.S. Central Command said on Sunday.

The Truman was scheduled to return home, but its mission was extended with the USS Carl Vinson also deployed to the area, ABC News reported.

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