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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Air Force Crash Kills 6 In Idaho Colorado Reservists Training When C-130 Crashed In Foothills

Associated Press

Six reservists from Petersen Air Force Base in Colorado were killed Saturday when their C-130 transport plane crashed in a remote area of southern Idaho’s high-desert foothills. No one survived.

The victims were not immediately identified.

But Staff Sgt. Tim Taylor from the public affairs office at Petersen Air Force Base said they were on a routine training mission from the 302nd Airlift Wing there.

A spokeswoman at Idaho’s Mountain Home Air Force Base said the four-engine propeller plane was returning to the Colorado Springs-area base from training at Boise’s Gowen Field.

The crash occurred about 3:15 p.m. in northwestern Gooding County, about 12 miles north of the small town of Bliss and 80 miles southeast of Boise.

There was no immediate indication of the cause.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Curt Kaneaster said wreckage was scattered over about a three-mile area in pieces so small that even the type of plane involved was not apparent.

“It was so horrible that I have absolutely no idea what could have happened,” Gooding County Sheriff Jim Jax said.

His department and the Air Force sealed off the scene about 1 miles west of the unpaved Hill City Road and seven miles south of the Camas County line.

The Air Force was taking over the investigation Saturday night and posting military police to secure the scene.

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