One person has died and five others were injured after a small business jet carrying six people crashed onto a highway in Texas.
The NetJets-operated Cessna Citation Latitude departed San José del Cabo, Mexico, and was en route to Austin, Texas, before diverting to Laredo on Tuesday, June 16.
Authorities said the aircraft appeared to lose contact with air traffic control before crashing onto a highway about three miles from Laredo International Airport.
The plane reportedly suffered an apparent mechanical failure before striking a moving vehicle on the roadway. Motorists who stopped at the scene found the aircraft split in half, overturned, and engulfed in flames.
Footage from the scene showed two bystanders using a sledgehammer and a shovel to smash the cockpit window and open the aircraft door in an attempt to rescue those on board.
“It looked like part of a movie. I was in shock,” Zayra Garza, who witnessed the aftermath of the crash, told KARK.
Garza said three people who appeared to be teenagers emerged from the aircraft, along with a person she believed was the pilot.
Police confirmed that one person died in the crash, while the remaining five occupants sustained injuries and were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Laredo Police Public Information Officer Jose Baeza told CNN: “Regrettably and tragically, there is one deceased involved in this crash.”
Baeza added that five police officers responding to the scene were also taken to hospital after sustaining injuries during the rescue operation.
