Bushfires: New footage shows crash that killed US firefighters

Devastating new footage has emerged of the C-130 Hercules waterbombing aircraft crashing in a fiery explosion.

Devastating new footage has emerged of the C-130 Hercules waterbombing aircraft crashing in a fiery explosion while fighting fires near Cooma.

The crash killed American firefighters Ian McBeth, Paul Hudson and Rick DeMorgan Jr last Thursday and surfaced the same day grieving relatives of the three men visited the crash site to pay their respects.

The video, shot on a local’s phone camera, shows the C-130 aircraft diving over a flaming ridge and jettisoning a load of fire-retardant material.

The plane then disappears behind a thick cloud of smoke, forcing the onlooker to track the passage of the aircraft before noticing something has gone wrong.

Letting out an expletive, he managed to capture the plane exploding into a large ball of fire.

On Wednesday morning, the families of the American crew met with NSW Rural Fire Service personnel and flew out to the crash site aboard a military helicopter.

The group stayed at the crash site for over four hours, grieving and comforting one another.

“I think the entire state of New South Wales is grieving alongside those families today,” said NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliot.

“We owe them an enormous debt.”

NSW Police and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are investigating why the well-serviced aircraft, staffed by three experienced pilots, crashed during what has been described as a routine firefighting mission.

An interim report is expected to be released within weeks.