Five people were killed when a small plane crashed near Austin, Texas, late Thursday night, local officials said Friday.
The Hays County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said emergency personnel responded to the scene and preliminary information indicated the plane was traveling at a high speed at the time of impact.
According to air traffic control audio, a pilot said he and other Cessna pilots were flying there together.
“I haven’t heard anything from him,” the pilot says on the recording.
A controller responded that “He started moving erratically, and now his track has disappeared from the scope. So we want to make sure everything is OK with him.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said the Cessna 421C crashed at about 11:25 p.m., with five people on board.
A second plane traveling in the vicinity at the time of the crash landed safely in New Braunfels, the agency said.
According to the flight history, the plane had taken off from Amarillo, Texas, about two hours earlier and was headed to New Braunfels National Airport.
Officials said preliminary information indicated the plane was traveling at high speed when it crashed.
Wimberly, with a population of about 3,000, is a popular tourist and hiking destination in the Texas Hill Country next to the Blanco River.
According to the National Weather Service, the New Braunfels area was mostly cloudy shortly before the crash, but the storm dissipated two hours later.
Additionally, a pilot in the area also confirmed that the locator emergency equipment of the problem aircraft had emitted a distress signal.
Wimberley Mayor Jim Chiles told The Associated Press early Friday that he had no information about the crash.
While the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board said they would investigate the accident.
