LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KARK) – Officials said all five people aboard an airplane that crashed near the Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Wednesday have died.
Officials with the Little Rock Police Department said they responded to reports of a twin-engine plane going down a little after 12 p.m. in the area between the airport and the 3M Little Rock plant.
Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including Little Rock Police, Little Rock Fire Department and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and other federal and state agencies then joined in on the response and investigation.
Just after 2 p.m., FAA officials reported that there were five people aboard the twin-engine Beech BE20, which had just departed from the airport on its way to the John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio.
During a news conference near the scene, Lt. Cody Burk with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office noted that the crash happened within a mile of the airport. He said no survivors had been found at the scene and that the search was in a recovery phase.
Wednesday evening, Little Rock-based CTEH, a science consulting firm, confirmed to Nexstar’s KARK that the people on board the plane, including the pilot, were all employees of the company.
“We are incredibly saddened to report the loss of our Little Rock colleagues,” CTEH senior vice president Dr. Paul Nony said in a statement. “We ask everyone to keep the families of those lost and the entire CTEH team in their thoughts and prayers.”
A company spokesperson confirmed that the team was responding to an incident at the Schumann and Company Metals Plant in Bedford, Ohio, where an explosion killed one person and injured more than a dozen others earlier this week.
Search teams are still investigating the crash scene but noted the weather was hampering the investigation. According to KARK meteorologist Pat Walker, there were significant wind gusts near the airport around the time the crash was reported.
The National Transportation Safety Board has crews on the way to the scene to begin its investigation.
A neighbor near the scene of the crash told KARK that he heard a loud boom and saw smoke from the crash.
This is a developing story.
