Air Ambulance Crashes After Take off in West Texas, 5 Killed

A patient and his wife were among the dead when an air ambulance crashed shortly after takeoff from a West Texas airport, killing all 5 people on board.

Photo: Air Ambulance Crashes After Take off in West Texas, 5 Killed

The crash happened about 12:15 a.m. Sunday about a mile east of Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport, around 200 miles southeast of El Paso. The twin-engine Cessna 421 had just taken off for Midland International Airport in Midland when it went down in an open area, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, The Associated Press reports.

The aircraft was carrying a patient and his wife to Midland, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said.

The pilot, Ted Caffarel, 59, of Beaumont, Texas, apparently was trying to make an emergency landing when the plane hit a rut in the muddy field, overturned and burned, the DPS said, according to Seattle Times.