COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Family members of one of the crew members of an Air National Guard plane that went down in South Dakota yesterday say they've been told that he was killed in the crash -- and that only two crew members had survived. Officials have said six were on board.
President Barack Obama is offering condolences to the families of the North Carolina-based crew.
The plane went down after dropping fire retardant. The seven remaining Air Force C-130 planes that can drop water or fire retardant are being kept on the ground while the crash is investigated.
All of the planes had been sent to Colorado last week to fight the wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes.
Without the C-130s, there are still 14 federally-contracted heavy tankers available.
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195-a-09-(Lieutenant Colonel Robert Carver, public affairs director, North Carolina Air National Guard, at news conference)-"what they do"-Lieutenant Colonel Robert Carver, with the North Carolina Air National Guard, says flying cargo planes to fight wildfires is not an easy task. (2 Jul 2012)
<<CUT *195 (07/02/12)>> 00:09 "what they do"
193-a-07-(Lieutenant Colonel Robert Carver, public affairs director, North Carolina Air National Guard, at news conference)-"really a family"-Lieutenant Colonel Robert Carver says members of the North Carolina Air National Guard are upset about the crash of one of their cargo planes in South Dakota. (2 Jul 2012)
<<CUT *193 (07/02/12)>> 00:07 "really a family"
APPHOTO COEA101: Martin Jiles looks over the ashes of his home that was destroyed by the High Park Fire in the Glacier View residential area near Livermore, Colo., on Monday, July 2, 2012. The last evacuees from the fire in have been allowed to return home as crews fully contained the136-square-mile wildfire that killed one resident and destroyed 259 houses. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski) (2 Jul 2012)
<<APPHOTO COEA101 (07/02/12)>>
APPHOTO CODEN302: Immanuel Mgana holds his daughter Grace Mgana, 2, as he surveys what is left of their home Sunday, July 1, 2012, into the Mountain Shadows subdivision of Colorado Springs, Colo., after the Waldo Canyon fire ravaged the neighborhood. Immanuel had been deployed in the army in East Africa but was allowed to return home when he got word of the damage. So far, the blaze, now 45 percent contained, has damaged or destroyed nearly 350 homes. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Helen H. Richardson) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT (1 Jul 2012)
<<APPHOTO CODEN302 (07/01/12)>>
