An airplane transporting a heart patient from Nevada to Utah crashed into a parking lot Friday night, killing all four people on board, including the patient and three crew members. The crash resulted in several explosions and a large fire that emergency responders took an hour to contain, reports the New York Daily News. No injuries were reported on the ground, though many cars were destroyed.
The medical transport plane was en route to the University of Utah Medical Center from Elko Regional Airport in Nevada when it crashed in Elko around 8:30 p.m. local time. One witness caught footage of the wreckage and the explosions that followed and posted the video (which contains graphic language) to YouTube.
The circumstances of the crash were not immediately known, but the crash occurred in the parking lot of a mining company near the Elko airport, and authorities believe the incident occurred during takeoff.
The patient had coronary artery disease, reports say, and had been suffering chest pains. He was being flown a the hospital in Utah by American Medflight Inc., a fixed-wing air ambulance company in Nevada and Eastern California.
John Burruel, the president and CEO of American Medflight, released a statement about the crash.
“As an air medical family, we are mourning the loss of our crewmembers and patient,” he said. "Their families have been notified and they are in our thoughts and prayers. Our priority at this time is to look after the well being of the affected family members and their co-workers and to be responsive to their needs.”
Meanwhile, Allen Kenitzer of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Communications said both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
