Four adults and a child killed after small private jet crashes in Virginia
A small private jet crashed in the woods on Sunday afternoon near a small airport in rural Virginia, killing a child and four other people aboard, police said.
The twin-engine IAI Astra 1125 went down amid trees along an airport road in Hot Springs, a community in the shadow of the Allegheny Mountains, killing the pilot, three other adults and a child, Virginia state police said in a statement.
Police and other emergency responders converged on the site in Bath county after the crash occurred about 3pm.
A state police spokesperson told the Associated Press that the plane caught fire upon crashing. Investigators were working to confirm the origin of the flight and where it was flying to, Sgt Rick Garletts said by email on Sunday evening.
“Small crash site, everything is burnt, meaning the tail numbers are unidentifiable,” Garletts said, adding state police were working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to try to identify the flight details and the occupants.
An FAA statement gave no preliminary information on the circumstances of the crash and said that the agency will investigate along with the NTSB.
Hot Springs is about 165 miles (265km) west of Virginia’s capital, Richmond.
Local reports showed what appeared to be plumes of white smoke rising from a crash site. The airport was closed in the aftermath of the crash.
Police said they had no further details and planned no further updates late on Sunday as the investigation continued.