Two aircraft from the US Pacific fleet ended up crashing within 30 minutes of one another on Sunday in the South China Sea.

The incident arose while operating from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. The first was a MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter from the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 that went down at 2:45 pm local time. All three crew members were resecued to safety.

Nearly 30 minutes later, at about 3:15 pm, an F/A Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron crashed, and the two-man crew ejected and were soon recovered.

President Trump who happened to be traveling  on an Asia Diplomacy tour called the back to back incidents very unusual and commented that investigators were examining possible bad fuel as a major leading factor for this crash. China’s foreign ministry offered humanitarian assistance if required, while also taking the opportunity to criticize US military operations in the region as undermining peace and increasing risk.

The USS Nimitz was returning to its home port in Washington state after deployment, and its carrier group mission came amid heightened US-China tensions over maritime activity and sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.