Humanitarian air drop kills 1 in Afghanistan

MaCDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Florida (CNN) -- A woman was killed and a child injured early Wednesday when bundles of parachuted U.S. humanitarian aid hit a house in northern Afghanistan near the Uzbekistan border, the U.S. Central Command said.

"The U.S. deeply regrets any unnecessary loss of life. Great time and care goes into the selection of sites selected for the delivery of humanitarian assistance," the Central Command said in a statement.

The child was initially said to be dead, said Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Klee. He said the child was knocked unconscious, causing people to believe he was dead. Further details on the extent of the child's injuries were not immediately known.

The Central Command said it will launch an investigation into how the accident happened and "will put in place appropriate corrective actions."

The accident happened around 4:45 a.m. (7:15 p.m. ET Tuesday) when the humanitarian aid -- which included three separate pallets of wheat, blankets and cold weather equipment -- struck the home about 120 miles (192 km) northeast of Mazar-e Sharif, near the Uzbekistan border.

The airdrop was delivered by a U.S. Air Force C-17 using a "parachute system at a high altitude," the Central Command said. The maximum weight of the delivery was 1,800 pounds (810 kg).

The Central Command said it was not sure which pallet struck the house, but the parachutes apparently did deploy.