Twin-Engine Plane Crashes In Arkansas, Leaving All 5 On Board Dead: Officials

Five people were killed Wednesday after their twin-engine plane crashed in a wooded area just after taking off from an airport in Arkansas, officials say.

The five unnamed victims were all employees at Little Rock-based consulting firm CTEH and were en route to Bedford, Ohio, to provide environmental support after an explosion at the I. Schumann & Co. manufacturing plant Feb. 20, ABC News reported. Shortly after taking off from Little Rock’s Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, the twin-engine Beech BE20 crash-landed in a wooded area leaving no survivors, according to the outlet.

All 5 people killed in today’s plane crash in Little Rock worked for CTEH, an Arkansas company that responds to disasters. They were working in Ohio according to the EPA https://t.co/tQPUlmBG4x

— Shayla Teater (@shaylateater) February 22, 2023

“We are incredibly saddened to report the loss of our Little Rock colleagues,” CTEH Senior Vice President Dr. Paul Nony told ABC. “We ask everyone to keep the families of those lost and the entire CTEH team in their thoughts and prayers.”

There is no known cause for the crash at the time of writing, though police speculate the incident could have been weather-related. “We had a bad storm front move in at that time. I don’t know if the two are related, but the winds were bad, the rain was bad for a few minutes,” a Little Rock Police Department spokesperson told ABC.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced investigative teams will arrive in Arkansas on Thursday determine what caused the plane to go down, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Authorities Investigate After Plane Crashes In Ocean, Leaving Two Dead And One Missing)

“Part of the investigation will be to request radar data, weather information, air traffic control communication, maintenance records and the pilot’s medical records. NTSB investigators will look at the human, machine and environment as the outline of the investigation,” the agency said in a statement cited by ABC.