A hard turn by an aircraft carrier isn’t enough on its own to cause a $67 million Navy fighter jet to slide off a ship, a Defense Department official said as investigators determine how a plane fell into the Red Sea.

The F/A-18E Super Hornet was being towed Monday when it and the tug slipped and were lost in the Red Sea, the Navy said.

The Navy said earlier that the move crew on the USS Harry S. Truman "lost control" of the fighter jet before it fell overboard.