document: Nine reservists helping in the U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf were among the 13 people killed in the crash of U.S. military cargo plane in West Germany , military authorities said Wednesday . The crash early Wednesday of the huge C-5A transport was the first major accident in the nearly 3-week-old , round-the-clock deployment of U.S. personnel and equipment to the gulf . `` I do n't want to speculate on the cause of this mishap , '' said Brig. Gen. Richard Swope of the 316th Air Division . `` We do n't have any indication as to what the cause of the accident was . '' Four of the 17 people aboard the cargo plane were injured when the massive aircraft tumbled into a field early Wednesday after taking off from Ramstein Air Base , a stopover for many U.S. military flights bound for the gulf region . The plane was bound for Frankfurt carrying medical supplies , food and aircraft maintenance equipment for U.S. troops sent to Saudi Arabia following the Aug. 2 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait , U.S. Air Force officials said . Late Wednesday , the Air Force released the names of the victims . No hometowns were listed . Nine of those killed and one of those injured were reservists with the 433rd Military Airlift Wing from Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio . The four others were stationed at Ramstein or at nearby Hahn Air Base . Listed as dead from the 433rd were Maj. John M. Gordon , pilot ; Maj. Richard W. Chase , pilot ; Sgt. Rosendo Herrera , flight engineer ; Sgt. Carpio Villarreal , flight engineer ; Sgt. Daniel G. Perez , loadmaster ; Sgt. Edward E. Sheffield , loadmaster ; Maj. Richard M. Price , first pilot ; Sgt. Lonty A. Knutson , crew chief ; and Sgt. Daniel Garza , crew chief . Also killed were Capt. Bradley Schuldt and Sgt. Rande Hulec of Ramstein and sergeants Samuel Gardner and Marc Cleyman of Hahn . Listed as injured were Lt. Col. Frederick Arzt and Sgt. Dwight Pettit , both of McChord Air Base in Washington state ; Capt. Cynthia Borecky of England Air Base , Louisiana , and Sgt. Lorenzo Galvan Jr. of the 433rd . The four were hospitalized and reported in satisfactory condition , said Sgt. Rourk Sheehan , spokesman for the Landstuhl Army hospital nearby . The 433rd had not been called to active duty , but some reservists with the wing were voluntarily participating in Operation Desert Shield after arranging time off from their civilian jobs . The plane was from the 60th Military Airlift Squadron from Travis Air Force Base in California and was en route to Rhein-Mein Air Base near Frankfurt , authorities said . It left the Ramstein air base at about 12:30 a.m. and clipped the tops of trees before crashing and breaking apart . Twisted chunks of wings , landing gear , fuselage and other debris were scattered over a wide area . Firefighters were still dousing smoldering sections of wreckage 12 hours after the crash . The weather was hazy but visibility was about one mile , said Swope . He said the aircraft was just over 20 years old , which he said is not uncommon for the C-5 . The accident occurred about six miles from Miesau , where U.S. military authorities have been removing a cache of chemical weapons under an agreement with the West German government . The West German Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday the crash posed no danger to the operation . Ramstein , the largest U.S. Air Force base in Europe , is 90 miles west of Frankfurt . The C-5 is the largest transport plane in the Air Force fleet and costs about $ 148 million . It was the first crash of a C-5 in 15 years . On April 4 , 1975 , a C-5B carrying Vietnamese orphans crashed shortly after takeoff near Saigon , killing 172 people . The crash Wednesday occurred a day after the second anniversary of a collision during an air show at Ramstein which killed 70 people .
extractive_keyphrases: crash west germany massive aircraft ramstein air base reservists major accident victims
abstractive_keyphrases: u.s. military cargo plane c-5a transport