Dilara Hamit
23 February 2023•Update: 23 February 2023
ANKARA
A small airplane crashed on Wednesday afternoon shortly after takeoff from the US city of Little Rock, Arkansas, killing all five people on board, authorities said.
The twin-engine Beech BE20 plane had been bound for Columbus, Ohio, some 1,006 kilometers (625 miles) away.
CTEH, an environmental consulting firm, said in a statement that the people on board were going to help with the cleanup of an explosion at a metal production site in Bedford, Ohio.
The crash occurred as a line of thunderstorms passed through the Little Rock area, with wind gusts of up to 64.4 km per hour (40 m per hour), according to the National Weather Service.
Lt. Cody Burk of the local Pulaski County Sheriff's Office said it would be up to investigators to establish if the weather was a factor in the crash.