Workers recover last two bodies in crash of U.S. Air Force plan

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico -- A search team cut into the wreckage of a U.S. Air Force plane Sunday and found the bodies of two servicemen, the last of 10 who died when their plane slammed into a mountainside.

The searchers found the bodies after opening a battered section of the cockpit using a specialized saw and other equipment, officials said.

"We have finished one of the most important missions, which is the recovery of bodies," said Lt. Col. Adolfo Menendez, commander of a National Guard unit at the crash site. "Now begins the investigation."

The MC-130H special operations plane crashed during a training mission Wednesday night. The bulky plane was flying in rain and fog when it struck Monte Perucho, broke in two and erupted in flames, witnesses said.

The crash left wreckage scattered over the mountainside near Caguas, 20 miles south of San Juan.

About 30 searchers and military investigators were working at the crash site as the two bodies were found Sunday, officials said.

The area was closed to reporters.

Meanwhile, a 10-member team from the Air Force Safety Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., began supervising the investigation Sunday, officials said.

An Air Force accident board also was being assembled to rule on the cause, which remained unclear.

Searchers on Friday found the cockpit voice recorder. The plane had no flight data recorder, officials said.

The plane belonged to the Air Force Special Operations Command and was flying from Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in northeastern Puerto Rico to the Borinquen Air Station on the Caribbean island's west coast.

The Air Force released three final names of victims on Saturday and Sunday after notifying their families.

Six of the 10 victims were from Air Force Special Operations at Hurlburt Field, Fla.; one was from the Air Intelligence Agency and assigned to a unit in Florida; two were members of the Kentucky Air National Guard on temporary duty in Puerto Rico; and one was assigned to Puerto Rico for the Southern Command's Special Operations Command.

Six victims from the 16th Special Operations Wing were identified as pilot Maj. Michael J. Akos, co-pilot Capt. Christel A. Chavez, navigator Maj. Gregory W. Fritz, loadmaster Staff Sgt. Robert J. McGuire Jr., electronic weapons officer 1st Lt. Nathanial D. Buckley and flight engineer Tech. Sgt. Robert S. Johnson.

Also identified were Staff Sgt. Shane H. Kimmet, a support operator from the Air Intelligence Agency, Capt. Panuk P. Soomsawasdi, a special tactics liaison officer with Special Operations Command, and two combat controllers from the Kentucky Air National Guard, Tech. Sgt. Martin Tracy and Tech. Sgt. Christopher A. Matero.

The accident was the second in two months involving the four-engine Combat Talon II, a special operations variant of the C-130 Hercules cargo plane. The other crashed in June in Afghanistan, killing three.