Five environmental response consultants were heading to the Ohio metal plant that blew up last week, and were killed in a plane crash.
Scientists Died On Their Way to Ohio
On Wednesday afternoon, police confirmed reports of a plane crash near the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock.
Around 12:02 p.m., officials were alerted to a twin-engine plane that crashed by the 3M Plant on Walters Road.
Members of a consulting firm, who were on their way to respond to an explosion at a metal factory near Cleveland, were among the five individuals killed in a plane crash in Arkansas last Wednesday afternoon.
The victims were identified by their employer, CTEH, an Arkansas-based company that offers environmental, engineering, and toxicology services, and specializes in rapid response deployments. The explosion at the metal factory injured over a dozen workers and generating massive plumes of smoke that could be seen in the evening sky.
What Happened
The twin-engine Beechcraft BE20 crashed shortly after taking off from the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Ark., on Wednesday afternoon, killing all on board. CTEH has its head office in Little Rock.
There were reports of thunderstorms in the area at the time of the crash.
At the time of the crash, wind gusts were reportedly as high as 40 miles per hour at the airport.
Consulting Firm Employees
All of the people on the plane including the pilot were employees of CTEH, Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, which is a consulting firm that provides response services, including “environmental data collection, and management, GIS, safety, incident management, industrial hygiene, toxicology and human health consulting for the public and private sectors.”
The plane was headed towards John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio. A spokesperson for CTEH said this group was responding to an incident at a metal plant in Bedford, Ohio.
CTEH was previously working in East Palestine after the train derailment, according to the EPA.
The FAA and NTSB will investigate the crash and determine what caused it.
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