Military plane crashes in Mississippi

A U.S. Marine refuelling tanker crashed into a soybean field in rural Mississippi on Monday, killing at least 12 people aboard and spreading debris for miles, officials said.

Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks told The Associated Press that officials were still searching for bodies after nightfall, more than five hours after the KC-130 spiralled into the ground about 135 kilometres north of Jackson in Mississippi’s Delta region.

“We’re still searching the area,” Banks said. “It’s hard to find bodies in the dark.”

Banks earlier told the Greenwood Commonwealth that 16 people were believed to be on board but would not confirm that information to the AP. Banks said officials had found at least 12 bodies, but couldn’t rule out that more had been or would be found.

Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Burns said in a statement that a Marine KC-130 “experienced a mishap” Monday evening but provided no details.

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.”

Jones said the plane hit the ground behind some trees, and by the time he and others 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.