‘Safe and sound’: How a U.S. Airman Shot Down in Iran Was Rescued From a Mountain Crevice

A United States Air Force member who wasmissing behind enemy linesfor more than 24 hours after his F-15E fighter jet was shot down in Iran on Friday has been rescued, President Donald Trump announced early Sunday morning.

"WE GOT HIM!" Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight. "The U.S. Military sent dozens of aircraft, armed with the most lethal weapons in the World, to retrieve him. He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine,"Trump wrote.

The F-15E jet was shot down over southwestern Iran on Friday, according to multiple U.S. officials'accounts of the incident, causing the pilot and the weapons systems officer (WSO) to eject. The pilot was rescued soon after, but the second airman—whom Trump described as a "highly respected Colonel"—spent more than 24 hours evading capture in the mountainous region.

Read more:Trump Claimed Total Control of Iran's Airspace. Then Two Warplanes Were Downed

"This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour," Trump wrote.

The F-15E was the first U.S. military aircraft to be shot down inside Iran since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack that killed the country's Supreme Leader,Ali Khamenei, and more than100 school childrenin a single day. U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says 3,531 people have been killed by U.S.-Israeli bombing in Iran so far in the war, and that 1,607 of that number were civilians, including at least 244 ‌children. Thirteen service members have also been killed.

Another U.S. warplane, an A-10 Warthog, also crashed near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. According toFox News, the Warthog was providing covering fire for rescue teams searching for the pilot. The Iranian military said its air defenses brought down the A-10 and released a video that it claimed showed the aircraft being shot down, but U.S. officials have not said what caused the A-10 to crash. Two rescue helicopters were also hit on Friday during the operation to locate the missing airman.

Iran's state TV aired a video on Sunday of what it claimed were two American helicopters and a transport plane shot down by the country's military during the rescue operation for the second F-15 airman. U.S. officials told the Associated Press that the U.S. military blew up the planes after they suffered a malfunction.

Hiding in a mountain crevice

According to accounts given by U.S. officials to various outlets, the airman used his mandatory Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training to evade capture for a day and a half.

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The rescue operation involved hundreds of special forces troops and military personnel, as well as dozens of U.S. warplanes and helicopters.

After the crash landing, the colonel hiked to an elevated ridge and activated an emergency beacon, which allowed U.S. forces to locate him, two U.S. officials toldFox News.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was at the center of this operation, launching a deception campaign to throw Iranian officials off, according toAxios.It said CIA operatives spread a false campaign within Iran that both crew members of the downed F-15 jet had already been found and that U.S. forces were working on exfiltration, trying to confuse Iranian officials who were also working to capture the officer.

The CIA also reportedly facilitated an "unconventional assisted recovery," a process in which the agency contacts civilians willing to aid or shelter U.S. military forces, Axios reported.

While the airman was hiding in the mountains, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was searching the area near where the pilot's plane came down, and Iranian officials issued a public plea for locals to find the crew member, offering a reward of $60,000.

Videos posted online showed locals from the area where the jet went down forming search parties to find the airman. According to the New YorkTimes, U.S. aircraft dropped bombs on convoys that approached the area where the airman was hiding.

When the airman was found, he was taken to two MC-130J aircraft that were waiting nearby to exfiltrate him out of the country. But the aircraft malfunctioned, which led to U.S. forces destroying at least one of them, a U.S. official told Reuters.

Trump announced just after midnight on Sunday that the airman, whom he described as a "highly respected Colonel," was "SAFE and SOUND!"

He said in a later post that the airman was "seriously wounded," and that he would hold a press conference on Monday at 1 pm at the White House.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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‘Safe and sound’: How a U.S. Airman Shot Down in Iran Was Rescued From a Mountain Crevice

A United States Air Force member who wasmissing behind enemy linesfor more than 24 hours after his F-15E fighter jet was ...

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3-year-old immigrant suffered alleged sexual abuse during months in federal custody, family says

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — For five months, the young father waited for his 3-year-old daughter's release from federal custody after she crossed theU.S.-Mexico borderwith her mother, hoping through delays for their safe reunion.

Prolonged Child Detention

Only when he turned to the courts as a last resort did he learn that the girl had suffered alleged sexual abuse at the foster home where she'd been placed after immigration officialsseparated her from her mother.

"She was so long in there," said her father, who is a legal permanent resident in the United States. "I just think that if they would have moved faster, nothing like that would have happened." He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to prevent identifying his daughter as a victim of sexual abuse.

President Donald Trump's administration began targeting detained immigrant children, like the man's daughter, last year when it implementednew rules and procedures, which were immediately followed by a dramatic jump in detention times. The federal government intensified efforts to expand family detention indefinitely by motioning toterminate a cornerstone policyensuring the protection of immigrant children in federal custody.

For months after the girl was placed in foster care, her father's attempts to be reunited stalled as the government told him it couldn't make an appointment to take his fingerprints.

During that time, according to court documents, the girl said she was sexually abused by an older child staying with her in foster care in Harlingen, Texas. A caregiver noticed the child's underwear was on backward, according to the lawsuit. The girl then told the caregiver she was abused multiple times and it caused bleeding. Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement officials told the father that there had been an "accident" and his daughter would be examined, he told the AP in an interview.

"I asked them, 'What happened? I want to know. I'm her father. I want to know what's going on,' and they just told me that they couldn't give me more information, that it was under investigation," the father said.

The girl underwent a forensic exam and interview. Although the father wasn't told of the outcome, the older child accused of the abuse was removed from that foster program, according to the lawsuit.

The girl was forensically examined and interviewed, according to the lawsuit. The abuse allegations were reported to local law enforcement, said Lauren Fisher Flores, the lawyer representing the girl. The Associated Press does not typically name people who have said they were sexually abused.

"To have your child abused while in the government's care, to not understand what has happened or how to protect them, to not even be told about the abuse, it is unimaginable," Fisher Flores said. "Children deserve safety and they belong with their parents."

The ORR and its parent agency, theDepartment of Health and Human Services, were named in the child's lawsuit but did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Trump administration changes release policies

The girl and her mother illegally crossed the border nearEl Pasoon Sept. 16 of last year. When her mother was charged with making false statements and they were separated, the toddler was sent to the custody of the ORR, which cares for immigrant children in shelter or foster settings.

Children in ORR's care are released to parents or sponsors who submit to a rigorous process that has grown more extensive under the Trump administration.

Stricter ruleswere imposed on documentation required for sponsors, border agents started pressuringunaccompanied children to self-deportbefore transferring them to shelters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement startedarresting some sponsorsin the middle of the release process.

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Legal advocates filed lawsuits challenging the policy changes, anticipating that they would result in prolonged detention.

Average custody times for children cared for by ORR grew from 37 days when Trump took office in January 2025 to almost 200 days this February. The total number of children in ORR custody fell by about half during the same time period.

Attorneys are now turning to habeas petitions, which function as emergency lawsuits, to expedite the release of children to their parents and sponsors.

Fisher Flores, legal director of the American Bar Association's ProBar project, said that this year the organization has worked on eight habeas corpus petitions representing children who have been held in federal custody for an average of 225 days. They had not filed these kinds of petitions for children before the start of this Trump administration.

Fisher Flores said that legal intervention helped prompt the federal government to respond to the father's sponsorship application.

Alleged abuse wasn't immediately disclosed to the father

After the monthslong delay, attorneys sent the government a letter in February and prompted them to allow the father to receive appointments for a fingerprinting background check, a home visit and a DNA test. Then ORR stalled again, offering no timeline on her expected release.

Attorneys filed the habeas petition in federal court and two days later, ORR released the girl to her father.

It was while the attorneys prepared the lawsuit that the father realized that the "accident" officials had told him about was alleged sexual abuse.

"Increasingly, we have to turn to the federal courts to challenge these harmful legal violations and demand that children be released," Fisher Flores said.

The fingerprinting policy was challenged during the first Trump administration by legal advocates including the National Center for Youth Law. Other nationwide lawsuits are opposing more recent changes affecting the custody andcare of immigrant children.

"This represents yet another version of family separation," Neha Desai, managing director at Children's Human Rights and Dignity at the National Center for Youth Law, said of the 3-year-old girl's case.

"A bipartisan Congress designed protections around the simple principle that children should be released to their family quickly and safely. This administration has been consistently flouting its legal obligations to release children to their families, profoundly jeopardizing children's health and well-being," Desai added.

When the father finally reunited with his daughter, he cried. His daughter was happy to see him, too.

But after her five months in detention, he started noticing changes: She had nightmares and was easily upset. "She was never like that" before, her father said.

The pair now live in Chicago with the girl's grandparents while her case moves through the immigration court.

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3-year-old immigrant suffered alleged sexual abuse during months in federal custody, family says

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — For five months, the young father waited for his 3-year-old daughter's release from federal cus...

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Michigan beats Arizona 91-73, advances to title game vs UConn

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Michigan overpowered Arizona early and humbled the 'Cats all night long, turning theFinal Fourmeeting billed as the Game of the Year into a 91-73 Wolverines highlight reel Saturday night.

Junior center Aday Mara scored a career-high 26 points and had nine rebounds, a dinged-upYaxel Lendeborghad 11 points in 14 minutes and the Blue blew through their fifth straight March Madness opponent by double digits while becoming the first team to break 90 points five times in a single tournament.

Next up, a title matchup Monday against UConn,a 71-62 winner over Illinoisin the early semifinal that was billed — wrongly — as the undercard to this battle of No. 1 seeds.

Michigan and Arizona came in with the nation's top two defenses, a pair of top-five offenses and somewhere between eight and a dozen NBA stars between them.

But it was the Wolverines (36-3) who looked like pros, running to a double-digit lead only 5:31 into the contest, then swatting and slamming Arizona into oblivion.

Koa Peat had a quiet 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Big 12 champion Wildcats (36-3). They shot 6 for 17 from 3, 36% overall and had two assists and nine turnovers over a first half that ended with them trailing 48-32. Sparkplug Jaden Bradley got his fourth foul 94 seconds into the second half and finished with 13 points, most in extended garbage time.

Arizona's only two losses before this were by four and by three back in February. They trailed by nine less than 2:30 into this one.

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UCONN 71, ILLINOIS 62

UConn got another critical 3-pointer from Braylon Mullins and coach Dan Hurley's Huskies are heading back to the national title game, beating Illinois in the Final Four as they seek their third championship in four seasons.

Tarris Reed Jr. had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while the fabulous freshman Mullins scored 15 for the Huskies (34-5), who rodestrong inside playand tough defense to their 19th straight victory in the Sweet 16 or later rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

UConn will face Arizona or Michigan on Monday night as it seeks its seventh title, all since 1999, and third under Hurley, who would become the only active coach with more than two.

Mullins, whose buzzer-beating 3-pointer sent the Huskies past Duke and into the Final Four, hit a 3 with 52 seconds left that gave UConn a 66-59 lead.

Freshman Keaton Wagler had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead the Fighting Illini (28-9), who reached their first Final Four since losing the championship game to North Carolina in 2005.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage:https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

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Michigan beats Arizona 91-73, advances to title game vs UConn

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Michigan overpowered Arizona early and humbled the 'Cats all night long, turning theFinal Fourmee...

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Nuggets end Spurs' win streak with 136-134 win in OT

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 40 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, Christian Braun added 21 points and the Denver Nuggets beat San Antonio 136-134 in overtime Saturday to snap the Spurs' 11-game winning streak.

Cameron Johnson scored 17, Jamal Murray finished with 15 points and 10 assists and Aaron Gordon scored 15 for the Nuggets.

Gordon scored with 6.2 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, then forced Victor Wembanyama into a miss on the final shot of regulation.

Wembanyama finished with 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots for the Spurs, who lost for only the third time in their last 30 games.

Stephon Castle scored 20 points for San Antonio, while Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie each scored 18 for the Spurs.

HEAT 152, WIZARDS 136

MIAMI (AP) — Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 32 points before dashing out to fly to the NCAA women's basketball title game, Kel'el Ware finished with 24 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocks, and Miami rolled past Washington.

Bam Adebayo —who scored 83 pointsin Miami's last game with Washington — faced a triple-team on his first possession and scored 14 for Miami. Andrew Wiggins had 21 and Pelle Larsson scored 16 for the Heat. Adebayo also had nine rebounds and seven assists.

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Miami reached 150 points for the third time in franchise history. It scored 153 against New Orleans last April 11 — and finished with 150 against the Wizards in Adebayo's 83-point night on March 10.

Will Riley scored 31 for Washington, which has reached the 60-loss mark for the third straight season. Sharife Cooper scored 20 for the Wizards, who trailed by as many as 35 at one point.

PISTONS 116, 76ERS 93

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tobias Harris scored 19 points, and Daniss Jenkins added 16 points and 14 assists as Detroit beat Philadelphia to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The last time the Pistons (56-21) were the top seed in the East was in 2006-07. They have already clinched the Central Division title for the first time since 2007-08.

Jalen Duren added 16 points and seven rebounds, and Ausar Thompson had 14 points for the Pistons, who have won 12 of their last 15 games.

Both Duren (illness) and Harris (left knee contusion) had been listed as questionable. The Pistons are 8-2 in the 10 games that Cade Cunningham has missed with a collapsed left lung.

Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 23 points. Paul George scored 20 points, and VJ Edgecombe added 19. George has averaged 25.8 points in six games since returning from a 25-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy.

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Nuggets end Spurs' win streak with 136-134 win in OT

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 40 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, Christian Braun added 21 points and the Denver N...

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Dan Hurley jokes he's 'had a negative influence on Geno' after UConn coach altercation

INDIANAPOLIS –Connecticut men's basketball coach Dan Hurleysaid Geno Auriemma "should get the benefit of the doubt" afterhis altercation with Dawn Staleyat the women's Final Four.

Hurley was asked about Auriemma following his team'swin in the men's Final Four against Illinoison Saturday, April 4. Known for his bold, emotional antics on the sidelines, Hurley joked "obviously I've had a negative influence on Geno." He added it was crazy because "Geno has helped me so much," and he credited how Auriemma handled the fallout from it.

"Geno, the way handled the whole thing, such a stand up guy with the way he handled itwith the statement, and he's one of the classiest people," Hurley said. "If any one should get the benefit of the doubt in the world of sports, it's Geno Auriemma, because he's one of the most authentic, genuine, great people you'll ever meet in your life."

Dan Hurley booed at Final Four:'I don't know what they're booing'

Armour:Geno Auriemma embarrasses self, UConn with Dawn Staley tiff

The Final Four matchup between South Carolina and UConn was played with intensity throughout, with emotions building as the game reached its closing stretch.

That tension surfaced late as the outcome was decided, leading to visible reactions and an exchange between two of women's basketball's most prominent coaches.

Above, UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley react during the second half of the 2026 Women's Final Four semifinal at Mortgage Matchup Center.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies exchange words during the fourth quarter in the Final Four of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 03, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

The Final Four matchup between South Carolina and UConn was played with intensity throughout, withemotions building as the game reached its closing stretch.That tension surfaced late as the outcome was decided, leading to visible reactions and an exchange between two of women's basketball's most prominent coaches.Above, UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley react during the second half of the 2026 Women's Final Four semifinal at Mortgage Matchup Center.

Just as the previously undefeated UConn women were about to officially lose to South Carolina in the national semifinal on Friday, April 3, Auriemma hada heated end-of-game exchange with Staleyas they went to shake hands, resulting in him heading to the locker room without shaking Staley or her team's hands.

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That happened after Auriemma took a shot at Staley when complaining about the officiating during the game to ESPN's Holly Rowe. He said "their coach rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referees some names you don't want to hear" and "I got a kid with a ripped jersey and (the refs) go, 'I didn't see it.'" The player with the ripped jersey was Sarah Strong, who said she actually ripped the jersey herself.

After much scrutiny,Auriemma apologized for his actionson Saturday, April 4.

In his statement, Auriemma said "there's no excuse" for how he handled the situation and said it was uncalled for how he acted.

Staley and South Carolina did not have much to say about the situation when speaking to media one day before the Gameocks play UCLA in the national championship game, with Staley saying it wasn't a distraction to the team.

"Just continue to focus on our team and their ability to advance in this tournament. And hopefully win another national championship," Staley said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Dan Hurley says Geno Auriemma 'should get the benefit of the doubt'

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Dan Hurley jokes he's 'had a negative influence on Geno' after UConn coach altercation

INDIANAPOLIS –Connecticut men's basketball coach Dan Hurleysaid Geno Auriemma "should get the benefit of the dou...

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