Missile transport vehicle recovery planned
By ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.comArticle Photos
MAKOTI Recovery operations for an enclosed missile transport vehicle from Minot Air Force Base that tipped on a gravel access road in the Makoti area Thursday morning are expected to begin this week.
Maj. Elizabeth Ortiz, chief of Public Affairs at Minot AFB, said Saturday they are still assessing the safest way to upright the vehicle and waiting for equipment for the work.
She said the vehicle is about 60-feet long and weighs about 75,000 pounds.
Ortiz said the two people who were in the vehicle when it tipped, the driver and safety observer, were not injured except for a few minor bumps and bruises.
The incident occurred at 8:24 a.m. Thursday on Ward County Road 24. The area is several miles from Makoti.
The vehicle, which belongs to the 91st Missile Wing at the Minot base, was carrying an unarmed Minuteman III booster component of the intercontinental ballistic missile.
Ortiz said the road on which the vehicle tipped is a narrow gravel road.
She said there is no danger to the public. However, Air Force officials ask the public to avoid the accident site.
