Officials: Military plane crashes, killing at least 5 aboard

A military transport plane crashed in Mississippi's Delta region, killing at least five people aboard, officials have said.

Leflore (le-FLOR') County Sheriff Ricky Banks told The Associated Press that a C-130 military transport crashed about 85 miles (135 kilometers) north of Jackson yesterday.

At least five of the nine people supposed to be aboard have been confirmed dead, Banks told The Greenwood Commonwealth. He said a helicopter was searching for others around the crash site in a soybean field.

Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Burns said in a statement that a Marine C-130 "experienced a mishap" last evening.

Greenwood Fire Chief Marcus Banks, no relation to the sheriff, said the crash was reported about 4 p.m. CDT and debris from the plane was scattered in a radius of about 5 miles (8 kilometers).

Officials did not have information on what caused the crash or where the flight originated.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)