ALPINE, Texas — An air ambulance crashed shortly after takeoff from a West Texas airport yesterday, killing all five people on board.
The crash happened about 12:15 a.m. about a mile east of Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport, about 200 miles southeast of El Paso.
The twin-engine Cessna 421 had just taken off for Midland International Airport in Midland, when it went down in an open area, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The cause was not immediately determined.
The aircraft, used to transport patients in the Midland-Odessa area, was carrying a 78-year-old patient and his wife to a hospital in Midland, the state Department of Public Safety said. Also killed were two flight nurses and the pilot, Ted Caffarel, 59.
Caffarel was apparently trying to make an emergency landing when the plane hit a rut in the field, overturned, and burned, the public safety agency said.
The plane exploded several times after impact, witnesses said. No one was injured on the ground.
FAA officials are investigating, along with a team from the National Transportation Safety Board.
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