U.S. Navy identifies 2 killed in training plane crash

U.S. Navy Lt. Rhiannon Ross and U.S. Coast Guard Ensign Morgan Garrett are seen in handout photos from the U.S. Navy.

Handout via Lieutenant Michelle Tucker

A U.S. Navy training plane that took off from Florida crashed Friday in an Alabama residential neighborhood near the Gulf Coast, killing both people in the plane, authorities said. The victims were identified as U.S. Navy Lieutenant Rhiannon Ross, 30, of Wixom, Michigan, and U.S. Coast Guard Ensign Morgan Garrett, 24, of Weddington, North Carolina, according to a press release.

No injuries were reported on the ground.

Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby said responders encountered a “large volume of fire” with a home and several cars engulfed in flames. Firefighters were able to make “a quick stop on the fire,” the chief told local news outlets.

The crash occurred southeast of Mobile, near the city of Foley and the town of Magnolia Springs. Darby called the neighborhood a “heavily populated” residential area. No firefighters were injured, he added.

The plane had flown out of Naval Air Station Whiting Field, about 30 miles northeast of Pensacola, Florida, Navy spokeswoman Julie Ziegenhorn said. The U.S. Department of Defense and the Navy are handling the investigation, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office tweeted.

This photo shows the scene where a U.S. Navy training plane crashed in an Alabama neighborhood on October 23, 2020, near Foley, Alabama.

Greg Crippen / AP