Detroit Marine Among 16 Dead In Mississippi Military Plane Crash

DETROIT, MI — A Marine sergeant from Detroit was among 16 people who were killed in Mississippi Monday in the deadliest Marine crash anywhere in the world in more than a decade. The military did not release the names of the victims, who included 15 Marines and a Navy soldier, but the family of Marine Sgt. Julian Kevianne, 31, told the Detroit Free Press that his brother was among those who died in the fiery crash.

Kevianne joined the Marines in 2009, his brother, Carlo Kevianne, told the Free Press. The KC-130 air tanker was carrying elite special operations unit to training exercises in Arizona when it went down in the Mississippi Delta about 85 miles north of Jackson, the Associated Press reported.

“The Marines knocked on my mother's door at 2 this morning,” Carlo Kevianne told the newspaper. “They said his plane went down, and they weren't able to find him.” (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, like us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, the Marine Corps said. It’s uncler if the plane issued a distress call. FBI agents have joined in the investigation, but Marine Maj. Andrew Arada told reporters foul play isn’t suspected, the AP reported.

“They are looking at the debris and will be collecting information off of that to figure out what happened,” Aranda said.

The crash was the deadliest Marine aircraft crash since 2005, when a helicopter carrying 30 Marines and a soldier went down in a sandstorm in Iraq.

Photo: WLBT-TV via AP