At least seven US Marines were killed on Wednesday when their KC-130 refueling plane crashed into a mountain in western Pakistan.
In a brief statement, US Central Command did not confirm that anyone had died, but said the names of the seven service members aboard the plane were being withheld until their relatives had been informed of the crash.
However, Fox News learned that those seven Marines had been killed in the crash, and that there may have been others flying as passengers who also died.
US President Bush said the crash was a reminder of "how serious the times are today."
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the soldiers," Bush said at a fund-raiser for the re-election of his brother Jeb as governor of Florida. "But I want to remind them that the cause that we are now engaged in is just and noble. The cause is freedom and this nation will not rest until we've achieved our objective."
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he understood the plane was carrying passengers in addition to the crew.
Pentagon sources told Fox News the military does not believe there was hostile fire involved in the crash. They believe a mechanical failure caused it or perhaps a problem with geography or weather.
Central Command, which is responsible for US military operations in Pakistan and the surrounding region, said the KC-130 aircraft crashed as it was making its landing approach at a base in Shamsi in southwestern Pakistan, about 120 miles south of Quetta.
The plane's flight originated in Jacobabad, Pakistan, and was making multiple stops.
Rumsfeld said he was saddened by the accident but did not know the circumstances of the crash or whether the KC-130 was on a refueling mission.
"I'm going to wait for the investigation to be completed," he said. "We've got some folks heading up there now.
"It is a tough, dangerous business over there," he added. "They're doing difficult things and they're doing them darned well, and it just breaks your heart."
A journalist, Saeed Malangzai, who lives about 40 miles from the crash site, told The Associated Press that the plane went down in the Lundi mountains in southern Balochistan province.
"Residents saw flames from the burning plane before it crashed into the Lundi mountains," Malangzai said.
The KC-130 is a $37 million plane routinely used by the Marine Corps for in-flight refueling of helicopters. It is also used for troop and cargo delivery, evacuation missions and special operations support. It carries a six-man crew of two pilots, a navigator, flight engineer, mechanic and loadmaster.
The only other fatal crash of a US military aircraft during the war in Afghanistan, which began Oct. 7, was an Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in Pakistan on Oct. 19, killing two Army Rangers.
(China Daily January 10, 2002)
