A Military Plane Crashes

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

At least 16 US military personnel - 15 Marines and a sailor - have been killed in a plane crash after the transport and fueling plane they were traveling in crashed Monday north of Mississippi.

According to NBC, Leflore County Emergency Director Fred Randle noted that all of the crew's crew were killed and most of the bodies have been recovered. The search for the remaining bodies continues this Tuesday.

The crash plane was a Marine Corps KC-130 model that crashed for unknown causes at 4 p.m. local time in Leflore County, Mississippi, about 85 miles north of the city of Jackson, according to The authorities.

The Marines said in a statement that "the cause of the accident is so far unknown" and that "it is under investigation.

"The identities of the military whose lives were lost in this tragic accident are being withheld to allow time for their families to be notified," they added.

President Donald Trump conveyed his condolences on Twitter. The Mississippi Marines plane crash is heartbreaking. Melania and I send our deepest condolences to everyone!”

First Lady Melania Trump joined her husband's condolences. "My deep sympathy to all the families of the military who have lost their loved ones."

Authorities found remnants of the device on both sides of a highway that crosses the area where it collapsed, which could indicate that it could explode in midair, according to the local ABC channel.

Witnesses said they heard a loud noise at the moment of impact, which filled the air with a thick column of black smoke and scattered debris over a wide radius of several kilometers.

The wrecked KC-130 belonged to a reserve unit stationed in New York State and was traveling from a base in North Carolina to California when the accident occurred.