NEED TO KNOW
- A small plane used for skydiving crashed near Tullahoma Regional Airport in Tennessee on June 8
- Twenty people were on the plane, and no casualties have been reported, a spokesperson for the city of Tullahoma told PEOPLE
- “There are some minor injuries. The scene is being secured by local authorities while FAA officials are en route to continue the investigation,” the spokesperson added
A small plane used for skydiving has crashed in Tennessee.
The plane crashed soon after it left Tullahoma Regional Airport at around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, according to Lyle Russell, a spokesperson for the city of Tullahoma, which is about 75 miles south of Nashville.
The spokesperson said in a statement to PEOPLE that 20 people, including crew members and passengers, were aboard the aircraft when it crashed.
“There were no casualties,” Russell said. “There are some minor injuries. The scene is being secured by local authorities while FAA officials are en route to continue the investigation.”
The Tennessee Highway Patrol said on social media that several of those people were airlifted to nearby hospitals and that the plane landed near the town’s Old Shelbyville Road.
“Three were sent for medical treatment via helicopter and one sent by ground transport for more serious injuries to local hospitals,” Russell said. “Other minor injuries were treated by first responders on scene.”
“The plane involved was a skydiving plane, a DeHaviland DH-6 Twin Otter,” Russell added. “No ground facilities or airport facilities were damaged and there were no injuries were reported from the ground.”
Social media footage shared by the highway patrol shows the small plane broken down with lots of parts missing as it sits in an open grassy field. Law enforcement vehicles and fire trucks can be seen surrounding the plane, which seemingly had part of its wings snapped off in the crash.
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This crash comes amid of concerns about plane crashes in the U.S., following a number of both private and commercial crashes this year.
One of the most significant of these came in January, when American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.
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