A tragic incident unfolded in the Texas Hill Country as a small aircraft carrying a group of pickleball enthusiasts crashed into a wooded area, resulting in the deaths of all five individuals on board, authorities reported on Friday.
The crash took place around 11 p.m. on Thursday in Wimberley, a town situated approximately 40 miles southwest of Austin, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Sgt. Billy Ray informed the press that, “The pilot and four passengers were declared dead at the scene.” He further noted that the aircraft caught fire, indicating significant damage.
While officials have yet to release the names of the deceased, the Amarillo Pickleball Club from Amarillo, Texas, identified them as club members who were traveling to participate in a tournament.
In a heartfelt message on Facebook, the club urged, “Please keep their precious families in your thoughts and prayers.”
At the crash site on Friday afternoon, an emotional scene unfolded as a woman, visibly upset, wiped her tears and fanned her face. A man stood beside her, offering comfort as they stood behind the police tape.
The plane, a Cessna 421C, took off from Amarillo, Texas, about two hours earlier and was headed to New Braunfels National Airport, according to the flight history. Aerial photos posted online by the Austin American-Statesman showed the aircraft completely destroyed in a wooded area.
Ray declined to answer most questions from reporters, noting that federal authorities would lead the investigation.
Stacey Rohr, who lives nearby, said she was in bed when she heard a crash and “felt everything vibrate.”
“It was so close I felt like it was the back of my place up in flames,” said Rohr, who immediately called her landlord.
Cecil Keith said he heard what sounded like an engine backfiring – “pow, pow, pow” – when the plane flew over his house moments before the crash.
“Something was definitely wrong,” he told KEYE-TV.
A second aircraft traveling in the area landed safely at the airport in New Braunfels, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of San Antonio, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said. A pilot said he and the Cessna pilot were flying there together, according to Air Traffic Control audio.
“I haven’t heard anything from him,” the pilot says on the recording.
A controller responds: “He started to move erratically and now his track is disappeared from the scope. So we want to make sure everything’s all right with him.”
At least one pilot in the area confirmed the troubled plane’s locator emergency device had emitted a distress signal. The controller called 911.
It was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, and there was a thunderstorm two hours later, the National Weather Service said.
Wimberley, with a population of about 3,000, and New Braunfels, with a population of about 116,000, are tourist destinations in the Texas Hill Country.
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