Five killed in crash of US military cargo plane
A military cargo plane crashed in the southern US state of Georgia on Wednesday, killing all five people aboard, an official said.
The C-130 “Hercules” cargo plane from the Puerto Rico Air National Guard crashed around 11:30 am (1730 SA Time) near the Savannah airport.
“There were five fatalities,” a spokeswoman from the Georgia National Guard said.
Photographs on Twitter showed the wreckage of a plane engulfed in flames and billowing black smoke.
The US military has been rocked by a string of aviation accidents in recent weeks, including an F-16 crash near Las Vegas last month that killed the pilot.
Just a day earlier, four crew members died when a Marine Corps helicopter crashed while on a routine training mission in Southern California.
And in Djibouti, two incidents triggered the grounding of US military flights.
According to the Military Times, accidents involving the military’s manned aircraft rose nearly 40% from fiscal years 2013 to 2017.
The publication found the rise coincided with budget cuts from 2013, which impacted training and readiness, as well as heavy wear and tear on aircraft from back-to-back deployments.
The Georgia Air National Guard confirmed a C-130 "Hercules" cargo plane crashed during a training mission at about 11:30AM Wednesday. Officials said the plane was from the Puerto Rico Air National Guard and had five people on board. pic.twitter.com/lTzMKAYQi9
— News 4, WIVB-TV (@news4buffalo) May 2, 2018
Update on Plane Crash: 5 people were killed when a U.S. C-130 "Hercules" Cargo plane from Puerto Rico Air National Guard crashed near Savannah, GA. The plane was performing a training mission before the crash. Victim's names have not been released because family is being notified pic.twitter.com/KOkcz53Gz4
— Jason Frazer (@JasonFrazerTV) May 2, 2018