Police have confirmed a plane carrying CTEH environmental scientists heading to a toxic incident site in northern Ohio has crashed near the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock.
CTEH has also been working in East Palestine after the train derailment, according to the EPA.
Around 12:02 p.m., officials were alerted to a twin-engine plane that crashed by the 3M Plant on Walters Road. Officials say that all five people on the plane died during the crash.
THV11 report: The plane, a twin-engine Beech BE20, was departing from Clinton Airport when the crash occurred, according to the FAA.
All of the people on the plane including the pilot were employees of CTEH, which is a consulting firm that provides response services, including “environmental data collection, and management, GIS, safety, incident management, industrial hygiene, toxicology and human health consulting for the public and private sectors.”
“We are incredibly saddened to report the loss of our Little Rock colleagues,” said Dr. Paul Nony, senior vice president of CTEH. “We ask everyone to keep the families of those lost and the entire CTEH team in their thoughts and prayers.”
The plane was headed towards John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio. A spokesperson for CTEH said this group was responding to an incident at a metal plant in Bedford, Ohio.
There’s currently no information on what caused the crash.
During the time of the crash, wind gusts were reportedly as high as 40 miles per hour at the airport.
The Little Rock Fire Department has been working to put out spot fires caused by the crash, and police were reported to be at the scene working to get more information.
The FAA and NTSB will investigate the crash and determine what caused it.
A statement was released by Shane Carter, the Director of Public Affairs & Government Relations for the Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport which said the following:
“Clinton National Airport expresses our condolences to the families of those who died in today’s plane crash south of the airport. The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency coordinating with the National Transportation Safety Board and will be providing updates.”