Two Las Vegas airmen hurt in blast

Rachael Levy

Wednesday, June 26, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

At least two Nellis Air Force Base employees in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, have been harmed in the fuel truck explosion that killed at least 19 Americans and injured hundreds more, a base official said today.

The people's names and injuries will not be released until the families are notified, a Nellis spokesman said. They are members of 57th Equipment Maintenance Squadron.

Ninety-seven Nellis servicemen are stationed at Abdul Aziz Air Base near Dhahran.

Nellis officials refused to disclose the identities of all of the squadrons deployed to the area, though an Air Force source said they aided the mission of defending the no-fly zone through a variety of secondary roles.

Among those deployed in the past have been members of the 66th Rescue Squadron. The combat search-and-rescue unit assisted the warplanes patrolling Iraq's borders following the Persian Gulf War.

"We don't want to paranoia a parent or cousin or loved one when it may be a mistake," said Airman Ron Gibson.

The blast blew the front off an eight-story American housing complex and punched a crater in the ground 35 feet deep and 80 feet across. The building, Khobar Towers, houses U.S. servicemen.

Las Vegas parents of Air Force airmen and women began calling the local Red Cross emergency number shortly after news of the bombing was released, Clark County Red Cross spokesman Dixie Lavier said.

"Until you know your families are OK, the fear of the unknown is always near," she said.

Others have been calling the Red Cross office located at Nellis.

"We got calls starting yesterday afternoon and we're still getting calls, a dozen or more calls," Gibson said. "What we're advising them to do is keep watching the news media. We advise them no news is good news."

While the Red Cross is available for families, the military has a built-in system of support that is activated during emergencies such as this.

Gibson said military families typically reach out to one another for comfort as they wait for news. They will gather at each other's homes or visit the Nellis Family Services Center.

For more information, military families can call an Air Force hotline, (800) 253-9576, or the local Red Cross emergency number, 384-1225.