9 dead in US military plane crash
Washington, May 3: All nine people on board an aging US cargo plane have been killed when the aircraft making its final military flight nose-dived into a highway in the US state of Georgia, an official said.
They were aboard the C-130 plane when it came down on Wednesday beside the highway intersection near the airport in the coastal city of Savannah.
The plane belonged to Puerto Rico Air National Guard and was on a training flight, the National Guard said. All the airmen were from Puerto Rico, an official said.
Images shared on social media showed wreckage engulfed in flames and black smoke spewing into the sky, the BBC reported.
It was flying from Georgia to Tucson in Arizona, where it was to be decommissioned. The plane was at least 50 years old, according to an official familiar with the aircraft.
"Nine crew members died in the accident, but until their families and relatives are notified, we cannot give their names," Brig. Gen. Isabelo Rivera said. "Our prayers, thoughts and condolences to the families and loved ones of our aviators."
One witness said the plane made a "loud, strange noise" just before the crash. While another said the ground shook as if a bomb went off when it hit.
Video from a business near the crash showed the horrifying final moments of the hulking plane, a version normally outfitted to do weather reconnaissance, the CNN report said.
The jet, with four turboprop engines on its overhead wing, banked left as it came down. The plane then headed straight down behind trees. Seconds later a fireball and thick black smoke appeared.
Puerto Rico's Governor sent his condolences. "While we are waiting for more information regarding this unfortunate accident, my thoughts and those of Beatriz are with the families of the crew..., " Governor Ricardo Rossello said.
President Donald Trump tweeted: "Please join me in thoughts and prayers for the victims, their families and the great men and women of the National Guard."
I have been briefed on the U.S. C-130 “Hercules” cargo plane from the Puerto Rico National Guard that crashed near Savannah Hilton Head International Airport. Please join me in thoughts and prayers for the victims, their families and the great men and women of the National Guard.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2018
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
