NetJets aircraft crashes on Texas highway, killing one and injuring five

A private jet carrying six people crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas on Tuesday night, killing one person, local police said.

Videos shared online by the Laredo police department showed the wreckage of the aircraft and firefighters working at the scene. Other footage, shared by the Associated Press, captured the immediate aftermath of the crash, with flames rising from the plane as police and others worked to pull people from it.

The plane had left San José del Cabo in Mexico and was bound for Austin, Texas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). NetJets, a private plane company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, said in a statement on Wednesday that one of its aircraft was involved in the accident.

“What we have tonight is a tragic event,” Jose Baeza, an investigator with the Laredo police department, told reporters on Tuesday night.

Baeza said officers received a radio call from the local airport control tower just before 10pm local time, “indicating that they had an aircraft that was in trouble, that they had lost communication with the aircraft”.

“Regrettably and tragically” one person onboard the aircraft died, Baeza said. The five other passengers were transported to local hospitals, he said, and were reported to be in stable condition.

Authorities are withholding the identity of the deceased pending notification of next of kin.

Replying to questions on Wednesday, the FAA said the aircraft was a “Cessna 680A business jet” and confirmed it crashed south of Laredo around 10pm local time on Tuesday with six people on board.

“The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate,” the FAA said, with the NTSB in charge of the investigation.

NetJets confirmed that an aircraft with tail number N523QS was involved in the accident. “Our immediate concern is for the well-being of our Crewmembers, our passengers, and their families during this time,” the company said in a statement. “We are activating our crisis response and family support teams to support those affected and their loved ones, and we are deploying a team of experts to the site of the accident.