Three Americans die after a fire plane crashed in rural Australia

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"Apocalyptic" climate in Australia: hail now falls 1:57

(CNN) - Three US crew members died in Australia after a tank plane crashed in the state of New South Wales, where fires remain uncontrolled.

The tanker plane had been rented by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS), state prime minister Gladys Berejiklian said Thursday at a press conference. He was called to fight a forest fire near the city of Cooma, in the southeast of the state.

The Australian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council told CNN that the victims were Americans. The crew members belonged to Coulson Aviation, a fire fighting airline that owned the plane hired by NSW RFS.

Coulson Aviation said in a statement that the crew had been on a fire assistance mission when the accident occurred.

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"Today is a tough and horrible reminder of the dangerous conditions that our volunteers, our emergency services staff in the amount of agencies take daily," said Berejiklian. “It demonstrates the dangerous work that is currently being done. It also demonstrates the conditions in which our firefighters are working. ”

According to NSW RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, contact with the C-130 plane was lost shortly before 1:30 p.m. local time on Thursday.

"Tragically, there seems to be no survivors as a result of the accident in the Snowy Monaro area," Fitzsimmons said at the press conference. “It has been greatly affected by the ground. And initial reports indicate that there was a large fireball associated with the impact of the plane when it fell to the ground. ”

The NSW Rural Fire Service is investigating reports of a serious incident involving an aircraft in southern NSW this afternoon.
Contact was lost with a Large Air Tanker which was working in the Snowy Monaro area. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/i6u1mlZsZ0

- NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 23, 2020

The cause of the accident is still unclear.

Traci Weaver, a US public information officer with fire crews on the ground, called the accident "heartbreaking."

"We are here taking care of our people," he told CNN. "And it hits close to home when they are also Americans, a family as close as we are in the fire community, it is simply difficult."

The fires have been burning in the state for months, and several countries have sent personnel and assistance to fight fires, including the United States and New Zealand.

The United States announced Wednesday that it will send two crews more than 20 people to Australia, just a few days after sending air support personnel and other emergency management teams. So far, USA UU. It has deployed more than 200 workers in Australia, according to the National Interagency Fire Brigade Center.

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Fires continue in several states, particularly in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, home to the national capital Canberra.

Parliament in Canberra, Australia, covered by smoke.

Canberra airport closed Thursday, with arrivals and departures on land when forest fires burned nearby. One of the fires, just a few kilometers away, is "out of control" and has reached an emergency alert level, according to the territory's emergency agency.

The airport has not been evacuated, but was closed "due to aviation firefighting operations," he said in a tweet. The photos of the airport show airplanes landing on smoky runways, and the whole city wrapped in a thick reddish haze.

Authorities advised residents in the area to seek shelter and warned that the roads are closed and that "it is too late to leave."

"The fire can pose a threat to all lives on their way," said the ACT Emergency Services Agency. "People in these suburbs are in danger and need to seek immediate shelter as the fire approaches."

The emergency-level fire began on Wednesday, but worsened on Thursday due to high winds and high temperatures, according to Seven News, a CNN affiliate.

It rained mud in Melbourne

Much of southeastern Australia, where Canberra is located, has been affected by bad weather during the past week. Canberra was hit by a hail storm on Monday, with hail balls the size of golf balls that shattered car windows and wounded dozens of birds.

There have also been strong winds throughout the week; In addition to exacerbating persistent and widespread fires, the wind created apocalyptic scenes of huge dust storms that engulfed towns last Sunday.

WATCH : “Apocalyptic” climate in Australia: Fire, flood, thunderstorms and now hail the size of golf balls

Australia has been affected by a devastating drought since 2017, which has not only destroyed livelihoods, but has left the land dry, full of loose soil and dust that the wind easily lifts.

Fire in Canberra.

Under normal conditions, dust storms are not common events. But due to drought and wind, they are becoming more frequent in Australia. The great city of Melbourne, south of Canberra, in the state of Victoria, was hit by a dust storm on Wednesday night and then it rained on Thursday, creating a new type of climate disaster.

The wind had scattered dust in the air, so when the rain came, it combined in a mud of rusty mud that covered the city. Melbourne photographs show that the Yarra River turned completely brown with mud and cars covered with dirt. People woke up to see the pools in their homes and the bird baths filled with brown and dusty water.

Employees clean the mud in Melbourne.

The Australian Open, now on its fourth day, even had to delay games for several hours because the outdoor courts were covered in mud. The tennis tournament staff rushed to clean the court with towels, hoses and "high pressure cleaning", and finally resumed the games at the end of the afternoon.

There are "damaging winds" in much of the state on Thursday, with the strongest gusts reaching 137 km per hour in a national park northeast of Melbourne, according to the Victoria Meteorology Office. Softer winds are forecast for Friday and throughout the weekend.

Australia fires