Three American firefighters died after their plane crashed in the Snowy Mountains south of Sydney while attempting to put out fires that have ravaged Australia since September.
Contact was lost with the plane around 1:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, and the names of the firefighters have yet to be released.
“All three occupants on board were U.S. residents,” Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters. “We simply lost contact with the machine and the flight tracker we used stopped — there is no indication at this stage what caused the accident.”
A plane helping battle the devastating wildfires in Australia crashed overnight, killing the three Americans on board. @ReporterBlayne has the latest from Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/uivNTMPe2P
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 23, 2020
The C-130 Hercules water-plane, manufactured by Canadian company Coulson Aviation, can carry up to 15,000 liters of water and has been instrumental in fighting fires that have destroyed houses and killed around a billion animals.
“The aircraft had departed Richmond, NSW with a load of retardant and was on a firebombing mission,” read a statement from Coulson Aviation. “The accident is reported to be extensive, and we are deeply saddened to confirm there are three fatalities.”
U.S. public information officer Traci Weaver called the crash “heartbreaking,” and said, “It hits close to home when it’s Americans too — as tight a family as we are in the firefighting community — it’s just hard.”
