(FILES) This file photo taken on January 10, 2020 shows a C-130 Hercules plane from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service dropping fire retardent to protect a property during an operation to douse bushfires in Penrose, in Australia's New South Wales state. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
Three people were killed when a water-bombing plane crashed southwest of Sydney on Thursday, setting off a “large fireball”, Australian officials said, as bushfires flared across the country’s southeast.
New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said authorities lost contact with the C-130 Hercules aircraft, which was operating in the Snowy Monaro region, shortly before 1:30pm Thursday.
Fitzsimmons said the aircraft owner, Canadian firm Coulson Aviation, was grounding its operations of large air tankers fighting fires in New South Wales and Victoria states “pending review” of the planes.
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