PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. (AP) - Puerto Rico's National Guard commander says the plane that crashed onto a Georgia highway and killed its entire crew was more than 60 years old.
Adjutant General Isabelo Rivera says the aging C-130 Hercules had been used to rescue and resupply U.S. citizens after last year's hurricanes, among many other missions.
Nine Puerto Ricans were on board Wednesday for what was supposed to be its final flight before being retired in Arizona.
Rivera says the U.S. territory's planes are the oldest on inventory among National Guard aircraft nationwide.
He says it's too early to say what might have caused the plane to drop out of the sky. It came down so hard that its tail was the only section still intact.
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**UPDATE: At a press conference Thursday morning, U.S. Air Force 165th Airlift Wing Vice Wing Commander Pete Boone said the plane was manufactured in the late 1970's, making it approximately 40 years old.