Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 12 July 2017
16 dead in Mississippi in worst Marine crash since 2005

low, rumbling explosions ing information off of that
when the plane was still to figure out what hap-
high in the sky, saw the air- pened,” Aranda said. The
craft spiraling toward the county coroner, mean-
flat, green landscape and while, brought in body
spotted an apparently bags to remove the dead.
empty parachute floating The KC-130 is used to refuel
toward the earth. aircraft in flight and trans-
Fifteen Marines and a Navy port cargo and troops.
sailor were killed. Their iden- The plane was based at
tities were not immediately Stewart Air National Guard
released. The crash hap- Base in Newburgh, New
pened outside the small York, and officials said
town of Itta Bena, about some of those killed were
85 miles (135 kilometers) from the base. Several bou-
north of the state capital quets were left at the main
of Jackson. Bodies were gate at Stewart, which was
found more than a mile closed to reporters and is-
from the plane. It was the sued no immediate state-
deadliest Marine Corps air ment. Six of the Marines
disaster since 2005, when and the sailor were from
a transport helicopter went an elite Marine Raider bat-
down during a sandstorm in talion at Camp Lejeune,
Emergency officials respond to the site of a military plane crash near Itta Bena, Miss., Monday, July Iraq, killing 30 Marines and North Carolina, the Ma-
10, 2017. Leflore County Emergency Management Agency Director Frank Randle told reporters at a sailor. rine Corps said. It said the
a late briefing that more than a dozen bodies had been recovered after the KC-130 spiraled into The Marine Corps said the seven and their equip-
the ground about 85 miles north of Jackson in the Mississippi Delta.
(Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger via AP) cause was under investi- ment were headed for
gation and offered no in- pre-deployment training at
By ROGELIO V. SOLIS slammed into the ground, for training in Arizona when formation on whether the Yuma, Arizona. The Marine
EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS killing all 16 people aboard it went down Monday af- plane issued a distress call. Raiders are a special op-
Associated Press in the deadliest Marine ternoon in the Mississippi FBI agents joined military in- erations force that is part of
ITTA BENA, Miss. (AP) — In- crash anywhere in the Delta, the military said. The vestigators, though Marine the global fight against ter-
vestigators picked through world in more than a de- fiery crash scattered wreck- Maj. Andrew Aranda told rorism. They carry out raids
debris across a fire-black- cade. The KC-130 air tanker age for miles around and reporters that no foul play against insurgents and ter-
ened soybean field Tues- was carrying members of sent a pillar of black smoke was suspected. rorists, conduct deep re-
day to try to determine an elite Marine special op- rising over the countryside. “They are looking at the connaissance and train for-
why a U.S. military plane erations unit cross-country Witnesses said they heard debris and will be collect- eign militaries.q

In California, fires are early and

unpredictable after winter rain

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER fires are starting at least a
Associated Press month earlier than usual.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tim- The result, she said, could
ber and brush parched be a longer and more de-
from a years-long dry spell structive fire season than
and thick grass that grew California has experienced
after drought-busting win- in a while.
ter downpours are making Crews were making prog-
for early and unpredict- ress against dozens of wild-
able wildfire behavior that fires across California, Col-
California officials haven’t orado, Arizona and New
seen for years, if at all. Mexico.
Dense layers of new grass Authorities surveying the
are providing a “fine fuel” damage from a blaze in
for flames that then gain Northern California said
speed and intensity by Tuesday that at least 41
moving through “stand- homes and 55 other build-
ing dead fuel” made up of ings had been destroyed
vegetation and trees that near the town of Oroville,
shriveled during the state’s about 150 miles (241 kilo-
six-year drought, said Kath- meters) northeast of San
leen Schori with the Califor- Francisco. Residents had
nia Department of Forestry started to return home af-
and Fire Protection. ter fleeing a wildfire in the
“It’s difficult to remember grassy foothills of the Sierra
a year quite like this one,” Nevada, about 60 miles (97
she said Tuesday. “There’s kilometers) north of Sacra-
such a mix of fuels that mento, but at least 4,000
these large damaging were still evacuated.q