The pilot of an F-15 fighter jet shot down over Kuwait was thanked by locals after managing to safely eject from the plane before it plummeted to the ground.
Footage on social media showed the unnamed female pilot beaming ear-to-ear despite being shot out of the sky moments before in a friendly fire mishap.
‘You need something to help you?’, the man recording could be heard asking the pilot as he approached her.
‘No problem, you are safe, you are safe. Everything good? Thank you for helping us,’ the man continued.
The pilot was aboard one of three US jets that were mistakenly shot down over the Middle Eastern country on Monday.
Footage had earlier emerged showing the $90 million planes spiraling out of control as they crashed to the ground.
US CENTCOM said all six crew members ejected safely and have been recovered, evacuated and transferred to hospitals for health checks.
Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense said it was coordinating with the US regarding the ‘circumstances of the incident’ and would investigate.
The unknown female pilot beamed ear-to-ear despite being shot out of the sky moments before in a friendly fire mishap
The pilot was aboard one of three US jets that were mistakenly shot down over the Middle Eastern country on Monday (file image)
A spokesman for Kuwait’s defiance ministry said: ‘Several US warplanes crashed this morning. Confirming that all crew members survived.
‘Authorities immediately initiated search and rescue operations, evacuating the crews and transporting them to a hospital for medical evaluation and treatment. Their condition is stable.’
Footage also showed another pilot walking on the ground after they too successfully ejected.
The Pentagon said Monday morning that the death toll among American service members had risen to four.
Just a day earlier, the administration confirmed that three US troops had been killed in fighting with Iranian forces.
The rising death toll came after Donald Trump told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview over the phone on Sunday that fighting with Iran could last for the next four weeks.
‘It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so. It’s always been about a four-week process so – as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks – or less,’ the President said.
At a press conference on Monday, Trump said that the US had ‘the capability to go far longer’ than the projected time frame.
Another video on Monday showed a parachute falling from the sky roughly 30km from the US’s Ali Al Salem Air Base
Plumes of smoke from two simultaneous strikes rise over Tehran, Iran, on Monday
The region was plunged into chaos over the weekend after the US and Israel pounded Iran with missiles, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Tehran and its allies hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas.
The intensity of the attacks and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.
At least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said, and more than 130 cities across the country came under attack.
In Israel, 11 people have been killed, with 31 people also being killed in Lebanon, according to authorities.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian branded the Supreme Leader’s killing a ‘declaration of war against Muslims.’
The country raised its so-called ‘red flag of revenge’ and vowed to hit the US and Israel with a ‘force never experienced before.’
