A plane crashed in the central Afghanistan province of Ghazni on Monday, killing everyone on board, according to a local official, report agencies. The number of people on board was not immediately known, nor was the cause of the crash. US officials were not immediately available for comment. The U.S. military told the Associated Press that it is investigating and that it remained unclear whose aircraft was involved in the crash.
Photos from the scene showed what looked like a US military insignia on the plane. Arif Noori, a spokesperson for the province's governor, said damage was so extensive it was difficult to identify bodies in the wreckage. The plane went down in Deh Yak in Ghazni, around 100 miles south of Kabul. Noori told the Associated Press separately that the crash site is in territory controlled by the Taliban. He said the plane went down around 110 p.m. local time (340 a.m. ET.) Much of Afghanistan is inaccessible to journalists and NBC News was not able to confirm the information.
The number 358 was seen on the tail of the plane, according to Noori. He didn't know which country or company the plane belonged to. Image Afghan National Army forces head toward the site of an airplane crash in Deh Yak in the Ghazni province in Afghanistan on Monday.Afghan National Army forces head toward the site of an airplane crash in Deh Yak in the Ghazni province in Afghanistan on Monday.Mustafa Andaleb Reuters Afghanistan's state-owned airline Ariana Afghan Airlines denied that the plane was one of theirs.
The last major commercial air crash in Afghanistan occurred in 2005, when a Kam Air flight from the western city of Herat to Kabul crashed into mountains as it tried to land in snowy weather. The war, however, has seen a number of deadly crashes of military aircraft. One of the most spectacular occurred in 2013 when an American Boeing 747 cargo jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Bagram air base north of Kabul en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
All seven crew member were killed. The US National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that large military vehicles were inadequately secured and had shifted during flight, causing damage to the control systems that rendered the airplane uncontrollable.
