No coincidences?
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Friday night's crash of a plane between NAS Jacksonville and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into the St. Johns River is being called miraculous by many, especially anyone who remembers an eerily similar crash from 1983.
All six crew members and eight of nine passengers on board died when a Navy Convair C-131F military transport plane crashed into shallow water while on an emergency approach to Jacksonville's riverfront Navy base on April 30, 1983.
"At 12:09 (p.m.) the pilot radioed the tower that he had a fire in his left engine and was returning to the base," Navy spokesman Nick Young said at the time.
The plane crashed in the water about 100 yards short of the runway as it attempted to return to the naval station.
Residents in Mandarin saw the plane returning to the base with flames coming from its port engine.
'"It was on a straight path right toward the runway. It didn't falter at all, and then it went down," W.D. Thompson, who also watched from across the river, told the UPI.
The lone survivor of the crash, Petty Officer Melissa Kelly, was hospitalized with multiple injuries.
"I guess the first question is, 'Why me?' But I'll worry about that later," she told a reporter from her hospital bed.
The flight was a regular biweekly personnel transport between the two Navy bases.
Unlike Friday night's crash, the weather was not a factor in the 1983 crash. It was sunny, with temperatures in the 60s that day.
36 years, 3 days ago: Plane from NAS Jax to Guantanamo goes down in river
14 people died in previous crash into St. Johns River
"MWD (Military Working Dogs) will walk 'Main Street' in Camp Delta during shifts to demonstrate physical presence to detainees," reads a directive in the "Psychological Deterrence" section. "MWD will not be walked through the blocks unless directed by the (Joint Detention Operations Group)."
The document was signed by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller. According to media reports, Miller introduced harsh interrogation methods to Guantánamo, such as shackling detainees into stress positions and using guard dogs to exploit what the former head commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez referred to as "Arab fear of dogs."
Miller visited Iraq in 2003 to share the Guantánamo methods. Soon after that visit, the infamous Abu Ghraib photos were taken.
President Bush said in 2006 he wanted to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. The military is prosecuting some detainees under military-commission rules set by Congress, and trying to repatriate hundreds of others.
Guantánamo Docs
For the most recent trip, volunteers with Operation Git-Meow landed in Cuba on May 12 and left with the 25 cats two days later. But this is only the beginning of addressing a much larger problem.
According to Kelly, typical estimates place the feral cat population at around 500, but she thinks there may be as many as 2,000. She’s been working with SPCA International and Helping Paws Across Borders to provide help humanely managing the population.