An Air Force C-130 transport plane plunged into a lake on a training mission, killing all nine people aboard, in the second fatal crash in three months of the military's workhorse aircraft.
A diver pulled one body from the sunken wreckage before the search was suspended because of darkness, the Sheriff's Department said. Wednesday morning, two small boats circled the wreckage as divers prepared to resume the search.Witnesses said the plane circled Blewett Falls Lake for about 15 minutes before rolling over and plunging into the water sideways Tuesday night, Sheriff Tommy Allen said. The weather was cloudy but calm.
"The plane has broken up into several pieces," Allen said. "Some of it's buried in the mud. The tail section is sticking up out of the river. That's the only part of the plane that you can see."
All nine crew members were killed, said Tech. Sgt. Edward Drohan, spokesman at Pope Air Force Base near Fayetteville, where the plane was based. The names of the crew were being withheld.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, Drohan said.
On Feb. 6, a Kentucky National Guard C-130 crashed into a motel and restaurant complex near Evansville, Ind., while on a training mission. All five crew members and 11 people on the ground were killed.