At least two dead in military plane crash near Savannah, Georgia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least two people died when a Puerto Rico Air National Guard weather reconnaissance plane crashed on Wednesday near Savannah, Georgia during a training flight, sending up thick clouds of black smoke, according to officials and television images.

The Hercules WC-130J aircraft had five personnel aboard when it went down about 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) near the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport and there did not appear to be survivors, a U.S. official said.

Television footage showed thick clouds of black smoke billowing from the crash site about 175 miles (280 km) southeast of Atlanta as fire vehicles arrived.

Tiffany Williams, deputy coroner of the Chatham County Coroner’s office, said by telephone that two people were confirmed killed. She could not say whether they had been aboard the four-engine plane or on the ground.

“All I can confirm is that we have two fatalities that were brought to us,” she said.

The Air Force confirmed there were fatalities but declined to provide a number.

A spokesman for the Georgia Air National Guard, Captain Jeffrey Bezore, said in an email that the aircraft had been on a training mission.

“The names will be released upon notification of next-of-kin. A board of officers will investigate the accident,” he said.

Gena Bilbo, a spokeswoman for the Effingham County Sheriff’s Department, said at a news conference that wreckage was scattered across a highway intersection and train tracks but no cars had been hit.

Bill King, a spokesman for the firefighters union in Savannah, said by phone that the crash scene had been “secured” and there was no longer an emergency situation.

The plane was a weather reconnaissance version of the C-130J, a cargo workhorse for the U.S. military. The medium-range aircraft is used to penetrate tropical depressions, hurricanes and winter storms to gather data.

The WC-130J is used by the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron based at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, the Pentagon said.