2 Bodies Recovered From Crash of Firefighting Plane
The bodies of two crew members from a C-130 firefighting airplane that exploded in mid-air were recovered Sunday from a rugged canyon south of Palmdale, authorities said.
Investigators at the scene Sunday hiked out with the bodies, said Capt. Dean Gilmore of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board launched a probe of Saturday’s crash, which killed three crew members on board the four-engine tanker. The body of the third crew member had not yet been recovered.
The C-130 took off from Hemet on Saturday afternoon to help battle a 75-acre blaze in Kern County. It crashed in a remote area in the Angeles National Forest, according to officials.
Witnesses said the plane, which was carrying fire retardant chemicals, was rocked by three explosions before it went down.
The plane and its crew were from the Hemet Valley Flying Service, which was contracted to the U.S National Forest Service, authorities said.
Two small fires were ignited by the crash.
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