Five Arkansas environmental employees heading to a deadly Ohio metal plant explosion were killed in a plane crash Wednesday, officials said.
The dual-engine plane crashed several miles south of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, where it had departed from around noon, the Federal Aviation Administration told The Post.
The plane went down near a wooded area and reportedly sparked an intense fire.
All five on board were killed within the wreck.
The identities of the victims haven’t yet been released. But CTEH, an area environmental consulting firm, said the passengers and pilot were all employees making a 730-mile trip to Columbus, Ohio.
The group was responding to the Tuesday explosion on the I. Schumann & Co. copper alloy company within the Cleveland suburbs that killed one veteran employee and sent greater than a dozen people, including at the least two in critical condition, to area hospitals.
CTEH had also sent staff to East Palestine last week within the wake of the train derailment that contaminated over 1 million gallons of water and 15,000 kilos of soil to this point, in line with the EPA.
“We’re incredibly saddened to report the lack of our Little Rock colleagues,” Paul Nony, senior vice chairman of CTEH, said in an announcement. “We ask everyone to maintain the families of those lost and the complete CTEH team of their thoughts and prayers.”
Officials are still investigating the reason behind the crash, but it surely occurred because the National Weather Service reported a line of thunderstorms with wind gusts of 40 mph in the realm.
Residents said the crash caused several explosions and sparked a big fire.
Dennis Gordon told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he was standing on a street nearby the crash when he heard the wind pick up after which an explosion followed by several smaller explosions followed, after which an enormous fire.
“It was just red, then it starts turning black, and there’s this burnt smell,” Gordon said.
