AS SAYLIYA CAMP (Qatar) March 31: A US tank carrying four US Marines plunged from a bridge into the Euphrates River last week after the driver was killed in combat, apparently causing the other three crewmen to drown, US military officials said on Monday.

The incident occurred on March 27 near the town of Nassiriya in southern Iraq, but the tank and the dead Marines were not pulled from the river until Sunday, US Central Command said in a statement from its battle headquarters in Qatar.

Central Command said the tank driver was shot and killed while crossing a bridge and the M1A1 tank toppled into the river, landing upside down.

The other three crew were believed to have drowned, it said.

The statement did not name the river, but US military personnel near Nassiriya, which has been the scene of heavy fighting since early in the 12-day-old war, told Reuters it was the Euphrates.

They said the incident occurred during a heavy sandstorm.

The names of the Marines were being withheld pending notification of their families.—Reuters