County emergency management director, Fred Randle, said 16 people perished in a fiery airplane crash in Leflore County, Mississippi on Monday night.
Randle said all the victims were passengers on the plane, none of whom survived.
Investigators said they found debris on both sides of the highway, which suggests that an explosion happened prior to the crash.
A Mississippi State Trooper said the plane was loaded with ammunition, forcing emergency response workers to be extra cautious.
"There's a lot of ammo in the plane. That's why we are keeping so far back. We just don't know what it'll do. It burns a bit then goes out, burns a little more then dies down," the trooper told WMC Action News 5.
The aircraft was a KC-130, one of the most extensively used planes in the military. The planes can be modified for various uses including carrying cargo, transporting troops or carrying out inflight refueling.
Please join me in praying for or sending good thoughts to the families and unit of the Marines we lost tonight in the C 130 crash #SemperFi
— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) July 11, 2017
A USMC KC-130 mishap occurred the evening of July 10. Further information will be released as available. pic.twitter.com/QEFhooJZmC
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) July 11, 2017
Secretary of the Interior and Navy SEAL Ryan Zinke tweeted his condolences.
Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen also expressed his sympathies in a post on Twitter.
The Marine Corps confirmed the incident on its Twitter account.