Military Plane Crashes in Mississippi, 16 Dead

County emergency management director, Fred Randle, said 16 people perished in a fiery airplane crash in Leflore County, Mississippi on Monday night.

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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.

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.