Five People Die in Private Jet Crash in Rural Virginia Woods

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A small private jet crashed in woods and burned Sunday afternoon near a small airport in rural Virginia, killing all five people aboard, police said.

The twin-engine IAI Astra 1125 went down amid trees along an airport road in Hot Springs, a community in the shadow of the Allegheny Mountains, killing the pilot and three other adults along with a child, Virginia State Police said in a statement. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Tuesday that Alfredo Diez, his wife, Kenya, and son Nicolas, age 3, were identified as three of the victims, according to postings on Facebook by the West Broward Lodge No. 253, a freemasonry fraternal organization in Broward County, and by the UDJ Almeiras, a soccer club in Spain, where Diez was from.

Diez was the owner of Sky Jet Elite, and the founder of Atlantis Aviation, a flight school in Pembroke Pines, according to Diez’s Facebook account, the news outlet reported. He was originally from the town of Betanzos in northwestern Spain. The other victims’ identities had not been released by Tuesday morning.

The plane left from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Monday. Police and other emergency responders converged on the site in Bath County, Virginia, after the crash occurred about 3 p.m.

A state police spokesman told The Associated Press that the plane caught fire on impact.

An FAA statement gave no preliminary information on the circumstances of the crash and said that the agency and the NTSB will investigate. Hot Springs is located about 165 miles (265 kilometers) west of the Virginia capital city, Richmond.

Local reports showed what appeared to be plumes of white smoke rising from an impact site. The airport was closed in the aftermath of the crash.

Police said they had no further details and planned no further updates Sunday evening as the investigation continues.