Moscow ( CNN ) -- An American military refueling plane took off and crashed in Kyrgyzstan on Friday , Kyrgyz and U.S. officials said . `` The status of the three crew members is unknown , '' the U.S. 376th Air Expeditionary Wing said in a news release . The plane was a U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft , according to the expeditionary wing 's Public Affairs Transit Center at Manas , near Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan . The crew and aircraft are assigned to the transit center . The Manas transit center is a U.S. airbase that serves as a supply hub for American forces in Afghanistan . It is located at the Manas airport . The plane crashed in a mountainous area between Chorgolu and Cholok-Aryk -- two villages in the Chuysky region of northern Kyrgyzstan , and a fire crew and three ambulances responded , Elmira Shyrypova , at the Kyrgyz Emergencies Ministry press office . The transit center said investigators are determining the cause of the crash and emergency responders were on the scene . Kyrgyz Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiev held an emergency meeting in connection with the crash , state media reported . Sharshenaliev said debris from the crash was scattered over an area of about a kilometer radius . He said witnesses calling in on a hotline said they saw a parachute when the plane was falling . Others said they saw an explosion and the plane was broken in half . CNN 's Yousuf Basil and Barbara Starr contributed to this report .
The status of the three crew members is unknown , the U.S. 376th Air Expeditionary Wing says . Manas is a supply hub for U.S. forces in Afghanistan . The United States says the `` status of the crew is unknown '' and that it will continue to work with Afghan authorities on their investigation into this incident.''