The military cargo plane that crashed Wednesday had stopped at the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport for routine maintenance on its way to a base in Arizona, officials said Thursday.
The C-130 Hercules that belonged to the Puerto Rico Air National Guard nose-dived out of the air shortly after takeoff and crashed on Georgia Highway 21 in Garden City, Ga., on Wednesday morning.
The plane, originally reported to be 60 years old, was actually manufactured in the late-1970s, said Col. Pete Boone, 165th Airlift vice wing commander, at a news conference Thursday morning.
Maj. Paul Dahlen, Puerto Rico National Guard spokesman, told CNN that the plane had been in Savannah for "days" undergoing routine maintenance checks. He said it was heading to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Arizona, known as "The Boneyard," where the military stores retired and excess aircraft.
"We have confirmed that nine airmen from the Puerto Rico Air National Guard were aboard the aircraft and are deceased," Boone said. "We are in the process of notifying the families."
Maj. Jose R. Roman Rosado, a father of two young boys, was identified as the pilot of the plane, a Puerto Rico official told The Associated Press Thursday.
Jose Sanchez, mayor of Manati, Puerto Rico, said the airman's wife is pregnant with a baby girl.
"The town is in mourning," Sanchez told the AP.
The eight others killed in the crash _ identified by the Puerto Rico Air National Guard and reported by the Air Force Times _ are Maj. Carlos Perez Serra, the plane's navigator; 1st Lt. David Albandoz, the plane's co-pilot; Senior Master Sgt. Jan Paravisini, a mechanic; Master Sgt. Jean Audriffred; Master Sgt. Mario Brana, a flight engineer; Master Sgt. Victor Colon; Master Sgt. Eric Circuns, a loadmaster; and Senior Airman Roberto Espada. They had a combined 167 years of military service.
During Thursday morning's news conference, Boone called on the public to be patient as the investigation unfolds.
He said he was unable to confirm whether all the airmen's bodies had been recovered from the scene of the crash.
"An investigation is currently in progress to determine the cause of this tragic event and ways to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future," he said. "I can assure you the United States Air Force will conduct a thorough investigation."
Boone said investigators will "use every resource at our disposal to identify a cause."
A team from Air Force Joint Base Charleston is leading the investigation, Boone said.
The plane had just taken off from the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, Master Sgt. Roger Parsons, of the Georgia Air National Guard, said in a news conference Wednesday.
Gena Bilbo, spokeswoman for the Effingham County Sheriff's Office, said in a news conference Wednesday that no cars were hit when the plane crashed in the middle of a busy highway.
"It is an absolute miracle at that time of day and that intersection," she said.
The debris field is approximately 600 feet by 600 feet, she said. That area of 360,000 square feet is about the same area as six football fields.
"We're going to stress to the local population, this is going to drastically affect your life for an extended period of time," Port Wentworth, Georgia, Police Chief Matt Libby said in a Wednesday night news conference.
Libby reminded the public to respect the lives that were lost and to be thankful that the plane didn't kill any people on the ground.
"Had this gone down a couple hundred feet north or south, it might have hit traffic or any of these big warehouses we have around here or any of these businesses or gas stations," Libby said.
