A plane crash involving crew members from Tom Cruise’s latest film, Mena, has left at least two people dead and another injured after the aircraft collided into a mountain in the Colombian Andes, CNN reports. The names of those killed were released and, according to Fox News Latino , they were identified as veteran Hollywood pilot Alan Purwin and Venezuelan Carlos Berl. Jimmy Lee Garland, an American, survived the crash and is currently listed in critical condition.
An official with the aviation agency said the aircraft was a twin-engine type N164HH, and it was covering the route between Santa Fe de Antioquia and Medellin. Reportedly, the plan encountered bad weather late Friday afternoon after taking off from Santa Fe de Antioquia, and a report from NBC revealed that no emergency was reported to air traffic controllers.
According to posts from Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority, which confirmed the incident through their official Twitter account, Purwin and the other person killed in the crash were listed as the pilots of the plane. The crew members had just completed work on the film, Universal Pictures said in a statement. Regarding the incident, a spokesman for the film studio released the following statement to the Los Angeles Times .
“An aircraft carrying crew members crashed while returning to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin following [the] production wrap on the film ‘Mena’ resulting in two fatalities. On behalf of the production, our hearts and prayers go out to the crew members and their families at this difficult time.”
Several media outlets reported that three members of the crew were killed in the plane crash; however, this has not been confirmed by authorities.
Alan D. Purwin worked as a pilot in the production of Mena, and had worked on the production set of other movies like Transformers and Armageddon .
https://instagram.com/p/6yfVfiuTk6/?taken-by=apurwin
The bodies of the deceased, meanwhile, were retrieved on Friday night and taken to a morgue in Medellin.
Authorities agree that, at the time of the accident, the weather was bad. Police officers, prosecutors, and accident investigators are still in the area investigating the cause of the accident. According to officials, one hypothesis is that the aircraft possibly lost altitude in a mountainous zone. The plane reportedly plunged into a green range of the Colombian Andes between the towns of San Pedro de los Milagros and San Geronimo, on its way from Santa Fe de Antioquia Medellin airport.
This story is developing, and any further updates will be posted here as they are made available.
[Image via Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images Entertainment]
