Richmond, Va. — A small private jet crashed in woods and burned Sunday afternoon near a small airport in rural Virginia, killing all five 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 and three other adults along with a child, Virginia State Police said in a statement.
The Recorder, Austin Hall / Handout via REUTERS
Police and other emergency responders converged on the site in Bath County after the crash occurred about 3 p.m.
A state police spokesman told The Associated Pressthe plane caught fire on impact. Investigators were working to confirm the origin of the flight and where it was flying to, Sgt. Rick Garletts said by email 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 and the National Transportation Safety Board 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 the agency and the NTSB will investigate.
CBS Roanoke, Va. affiliate WDBJ-TV reports that the plane crashed at Ingalls Field Airport.
Police told the station the flight originated in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and wasn’t scheduled to land at Ingalls Field, adding that it was trying to make an emergency landing when it ran short of the runway, hit several trees and crashed into a nearby hillside, causing a brush fire. It was quickly extinguished, WDBJ said.
Photos showed what appeared to be plumes of white smoke rising from the impact site.
The airport was closed in the aftermath of the crash.
Hot Springs is about 165 miles west of Virginia’s capital, Richmond.