CRASH DETAILS EMERGE
Military official says problem occurred at high altitude; names of Stewart-based Marines who died begin to trickle out
The military transport plane that crashed Monday in the Mississippi Delta, killing 15 service members, including nine Marines stationed at the Stewart Air National Guard Base in the Hudson Valley, appears to have developed problems while high in the air, a Marine general said Wednesday.
“Indications are something went wrong at cruise altitude,” Brig. Gen. Bradley S. James told reporters Wednesday near the crash site in Itta Bena, Miss. That squares with comments from witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press who said they saw the plane descend from high altitude with an engine smoking.
The crash of the KC-130 on Monday killed all 15 people on board: nine Marines from Stewart, in the Orange County town of Newburgh, where the plane was based; and six Marines and a Navy corpsman from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, James said.
The KC-130 is used to refuel aircraft in flight and transport cargo and troops. The plane that crashed was attached to Marine Air Refueler Transport Squadron 452 at Stewart.
The names of the people
killed had not been released by the military as of late Wednesday, and the Marine Corps said they might be withheld for a few days, but a county government official and two media outlets identified four of the Stewart Marines who died.
The Rockland County executive said one of them was Owen Lennon, 26, of Pomona.
“This Marine from Rockland County represented the very best our young people have to offer,” Edwin Day said. “He was immensely proud of his service to our nation.”
Lohud.com, the website of the Journal News newspaper in Westchester County, said Staff Sgt. Joshua Snowden, 31, of Dallas, and Marine Sgt. Julian Kevianne, 31, who has family in the Detroit area, also were among the dead who were based at Stewart.
And the news website
NJ.com reported Marine Corps Crewmaster Daniel Baldassare, 20, who grew up in Colts Neck, N.J., was among the Stewart Marines who perished.
The Marine Corps said the seven service members aboard the plane from Camp Lejeune were headed for predeployment training in Yuma, Ariz.
James said the crash left a “large debris pattern,” including two main impact areas separated by a mile, with a four-lane highway in between them.
Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Marshall Fisher repeated earlier warnings that people in the crash area shouldn’t pick up any debris, which could include weapons, ammunition and evidence valuable to determining why the plane crashed.
“None of that stuff should be touched,” Fisher said. “Removal of anything from the area could be subject to criminal prosecution.”
Leflore County, Miss., Sheriff Ricky Banks estimated Wednesday that
it will take investigators five or six days to sift through the wreckage and clean up the site where the plane crashed in a soybean field about 4 p.m. Monday.
The flight originated in North Carolina.
The crash was the deadliest Marine Corps air disaster since 2005, when a transport helicopter went down during a sandstorm in Iraq, killing 30 Marines and a sailor.
Monday’s crash happened outside the small town of Itta Bena, Miss., about 85 miles north of the state capital of Jackson.
The Marine Corps did not say whether the plane issued a distress call. FBI agents joined military investigators, though Marine Maj. Andrew Aranda told reporters no foul play was suspected.
“They are looking at the debris and will be collecting information off of that to figure out what happened,” Aranda said.
The Marines’ weapons and small-arms ammunition aboard the plane
The Marine Corps said the seven service members aboard the plane from Camp Lejeune were headed for predeployment training in Yuma, Ariz.
could have contributed to the explosion and the popping that could be heard as the wreckage burned, investigators said.
On Tuesday, several bouquets were left at the main gate of the Stewart Air National Guard Base.
“We’re feeling the pain that everybody else is,” Robert Brush said after placing three pots of red, white and blue petunias at the gate. He works for a landscaping company that serves the base.
Mid-Hudson News Network contributed to this report.