The New York Times reports that a medical plane recently crashed, killing all on board.
The number of victims of the crash is five.
They included the plane’s pilot, a flight nurse, a flight paramedic, a patient, and a relative of the patient.
The crash took place on Friday, Feb. 24, just before 10 p.m. near Stagecoach, Nevada. The plane vanished from radar, and after about 90 minutes of searching, rescue crews located the plane about 45 miles southeast of Reno, Nevada.
The details
Details about the incident have been reported by REMSA Health on its Facebook page. The plane that crashed was operated by CareFlight, which is a part of REMSA Health.
“Care Flight, a service of REMSA Health, headquartered in Reno, Nevada, and Guardian Flight, headquartered in Utah, can confirm that a PC 12 fixed-wing aircraft, tail number N273SM, went off radar Friday, Feb. 24, at approximately 9:45 p.m., near Stagecoach, Nevada,” REMSA Health began.
REMSA then delivered the tragic news, writing:
We are heartbroken to report that we have now received confirmation from Central Lyon County Fire Department that none of the five people on board survived. The five people on board were a pilot, a flight nurse, a flight paramedic, a patient, and a patient’s family member. We are in the process of notifying their family members.”
REMSA went on to write that “the Central Lyon Fire Department and Lyon County Sheriff’s Department are coordinating with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the crash which is under investigation.”
In the meantime, REMSA said that it is temporarily shutting down all Guardian and Care Flight flights.
The latest update
On Saturday, Feb. 25, REMSA provided another update on the matter. But, the cause of the crash still remains unknown.
“What I can tell you at this time is the Central Lyon County Fire Protection District and Lyon County Sheriff’s Department are coordinating with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the details of the crash which is under investigation,” REMSA writes.
The company said that a press briefing on the matter will be held on Sunday, Feb. 26.
While investigators work to determine the cause of the crash, REMSA said that its “priority” is “to care for the family members of the Care Flight crew and those on board the flight, as well as our entire organization of healthcare providers and staff that will continue to do important day-to-day work across our region.”
The New York Post reports that the victims include, flight nurse Ed Pricola, a military veteran and father of two, flight paramedic Ryan Watson, a new father, and pilot Scott Walton, the father of three young girls.
