U.S. service member and 3 defense contractors killed in small plane crash in the Philippines

One United States service member and three defense contractors are dead after a small airplane crashed in the Philippines on Thursday, officials said. 

The aircraft was "providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support" at the request of allies in the Philippines, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs said in a news release. It was a routine mission "in support of U.S.-Philippine security cooperation activities," the command said. The service member and defense contractors were the only people aboard the plane. 

The plane crashed into a rice field near Ampatuan, a small municipality in the southern Maguindanao del Sur province.