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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 13, 2002

US Military Transport Plane Crashes in Afghanistan, Three Dead

A U.S. aircraft with 10 people on board crashed Wednesday after taking off for a supply mission in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said.


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A U.S. aircraft with 10 people on board crashed Wednesdayday after taking off for a supply mission in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said.

Seven of those aboard were rescued and transferred to the medical facility at Kandahar with injuries ranging from a broken leg to cuts and bruises.

The other three were killed.

The four-engine MC-130 Combat Talon, which is usually used to transport special forces troops, went down shortly after takeoff at about 9:30 p.m. local time (1 p.m. ET) 35 miles southwest of Gardez, near Bande Sardeh Dam, according to a brief statement from the U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla.

There was no evidence of hostile fire.

The plane was flying in darkness �� the standard way the U.S. military moves its people in Afghanistan.The plane had been doing a "milk run," resupplying various U.S. remote operations in the country.

The MC-130 is a version of the propeller-driven C-130 cargo plane outfitted for special forces missions such as refueling helicopters and taking commandos into hostile territory. It is designed to take off and land on short, unpaved runways and can carry up to 77 troops.

Not including today's accident, there have been 37 U.S. military personnel killed in and around Afghanistan. Eighteen were killed in action, 19 in accidents.

On Jan. 9, seven Marines were killed when their KC-130 crashed into a mountain in Pakistan. The KC-130 is the refueling tanker version of the C-130.




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