There is no word on what caused a deadly military plane crash in Mississippi.
Updated 18 mins ago
ITTA BENA, Mississippi -- A military transport plane crashed Monday in Mississippi's Delta region, killing at least five people aboard, officials said.
Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks told The Associated Press that a C-130 military transport crashed about 85 miles north of Jackson.
At least five of the nine people supposed to be aboard have been confirmed dead, Banks told The Greenwood Commonwealth. He said a helicopter was searching for others around the crash site in a soybean field.
Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Burns said in a statement that a Marine C-130 "experienced a mishap" Monday evening.
Greenwood Fire Chief Marcus Banks, no relation to the sheriff, said the crash was reported about 4 p.m. CDT and debris from the plane was scattered in a radius of about 5 miles (8 kilometers).
Officials did not have information on what caused the crash or where the flight originated.
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ITTA BENA, Miss. — A U.S. military plane crashed into a field in rural Mississippi on Monday, killing at least 16 people aboard and spreading debris for miles, officials said.
Leflore County Emergency Management Agency Director Frank Randle told reporters at a late briefing that 16 bodies had been recovered after the KC-130 spiraled into the ground about 85 miles (135 kilometers) north of Jackson in the Mississippi Delta.
Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Burns said in a statement that a KC-130 "experienced a mishap" Monday evening but provided no details. The KC-130 is used as a refueling tanker.
Andy Jones said he was working on his family's catfish farm just before 4 p.m. when he heard a boom and looked up to see the plane corkscrewing downward with one engine smoking.
"You looked up and you saw the plane twirling around," he said. "It was spinning down."
Smoke and flames come from the wreckage of a military transport airplane crashed in a field near Itta Bena, Miss., on the western edge of Leflore County, Monday, July 10, 2017. Photo Credit: Jimmy Taylor via AP
Jones said the plane hit the ground behind some trees in a soybean field, and by the time he and other reached the crash site, fires were burning too intensely to approach the wreckage. The force of the crash nearly flattened the plane, Jones said.
"Beans are about waist-high, and there wasn't much sticking out above the beans," he said.
Jones said a man borrowed his cellphone to report to authorities that there were bodies across U.S. Highway 82, more than a mile from the crash site.
Greenwood Fire Chief Marcus Banks told the Greenwood Commonwealth that debris from the plane was scattered in a radius of about 5 miles (8 kilometers).
Jones said firefighters tried to put out the fire at the main crash site but withdrew after an explosion forced them back. The fire produced towering plumes of black smoke visible for miles across the flat region and continued to burn after dusk, more than four hours after the crash.
Aerial pictures taken by WLBT-TV showed the skeleton of the plane burning strongly.
"It was one of the worst fires you can imagine," Jones said. He said the fire was punctuated by the pops of small explosions.
Officials did not release information on what caused the crash or where the flight originated.
| Date: | 10-JUL-2017 |
| Time: | ca 16:30 |
| Type: |  Lockheed KC-130 Hercules |
| Owner/operator: | United States Marine Corps (USMC) |
| Registration: | |
| C/n / msn: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 16 / Occupants: 16 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Itta Bena, MS -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Memphis, TN |
| ? |
A KC-130 impacted a soybean field and burst into flames.