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A tragic plane crash in Texas Hill Country has claimed the lives of five individuals, who were all on board a small aircraft when it went down, authorities confirmed on Friday.
The accident occurred late Thursday night, around 11 p.m., in the city of Wimberley, situated approximately 40 miles southwest of Austin. The Texas Department of Public Safety provided this update following the incident.
“The pilot and four passengers were tragically pronounced dead at the scene,” reported Sgt. Billy Ray during a press briefing. “The aircraft caught fire, suggesting it sustained significant damage.”
The identities of the victims have not been officially disclosed. However, the Amarillo Pickleball Club from Amarillo, Texas, indicated that the individuals were members en route to a tournament.
“We ask you to keep the victims’ families in your thoughts and prayers,” the club expressed in a heartfelt message on their Facebook page.
An unidentified woman wiped her eyes and fanned her face with her hands as she stood behind yellow police tape near the crash site Friday afternoon. A man consoled her.
The plane, a Cessna 421C, took off from Amarillo, Texas, about two hours earlier and was headed to New Braunfels National Airport, according to the flight history. Aerial photos posted online by the Austin American-Statesman showed the aircraft completely destroyed in a wooded area.
Ray declined to answer most questions from reporters, noting that federal authorities would lead the investigation.
Stacey Rohr, who lives nearby, said she was in bed when she heard a crash and “felt everything vibrate.”
“It was so close I felt like it was the back of my place up in flames,” said Rohr, who immediately called her landlord.
Cecil Keith said he heard what sounded like an engine backfiring – “pow, pow, pow” – when the plane flew over his house moments before the crash.
“Something was definitely wrong,” he told KEYE-TV.
A second aircraft traveling in the area landed safely at the airport in New Braunfels, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of San Antonio, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said. A pilot said he and the Cessna pilot were flying there together, according to Air Traffic Control audio.
“I haven’t heard anything from him,” the pilot says on the recording.
A controller responds: “He started to move erratically and now his track is disappeared from the scope. So we want to make sure everything’s all right with him.”
At least one pilot in the area confirmed the troubled plane’s locator emergency device had emitted a distress signal. The controller called 911.
It was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, and there was a thunderstorm two hours later, the National Weather Service said.
Wimberley, with a population of about 3,000, and New Braunfels, with a population of about 116,000, are tourist destinations in the Texas Hill Country.
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