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Rescuers look for crash victims©Associated PressAugust 9, 2002 CAGUAS, Puerto Rico -- Rescuers struggled on a muddy mountainside until sunset Thursday to recover the bodies of 10 military personnel killed when an Air Force special operations plane slammed into a mountain and tore apart. The victims were based in Florida and Puerto Rico, the military said. Police in the commonwealth said they had recovered seven bodies, some charred and dismembered, in addition to parts of the fuselage. The search for the remaining three was suspended at dark and was to resume at first light, but rescuers feared there would be no bodies to find. Those still missing were the pilot, co-pilot and engineer, all of whom would have been in the cockpit, which took the brunt of the crash, said Rafael Guzman, executive director of the State Emergency Management Agency. The bulky MC-130H struck woods on the outskirts of the town of Caguas, 20 miles south of San Juan, while flying in rain and fog Wednesday night. It was the second accident in two months involving a Combat Talon II, a special operations variant of the C-130 Hercules cargo plane. The other crashed in June while taking off from an airstrip in Afghanistan, killing three U.S. military personnel. People who saw Wednesday's crash told reporters that the low-flying plane smashed into Monte Perucho, broke in two and erupted in flames, scattering body parts and bits of plane. Eulalia Martinez said the impact made her house tremble and flames lit up the night sky. "Everything was very bright, very bright, and with the force the house shook," the 75-year-old woman said on WAPA Radio. Rescuers carrying stretchers and supplies climbed a narrow mountain trail made treacherous by rain, fog, dense woods and soggy underbrush. Using ropes, they rappelled down an 80-foot drop to recover one body. Rescuers carried the bodies to a ballpark, from which they were to be flown by helicopter to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in northern Puerto Rico. Steve Lucas, spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, said seven crew members aboard the aircraft were based at Hurlburt Field, near Fort Walton Beach, and the three others were from Puerto Rico. The names of the victims were withheld until relatives were informed.
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