Video: FAA and NTSB Called in for Tupelo Plane Crash

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) -Four people are dead after a plane crashes seconds after taking off from
Tupelo Regional Airport.
It was a Monday morning Carl Fleming will never forget.

“I seen it take off, and probably got about three thousand foot, went straight down and then he exploded.”

Fleming had stepped outside to take a break from his house painting job when he saw the tragedy unfold.

Within minutes, first responders were on the scene. The fire was quickly extinguished and police cordoned off Colonial Estates Road.

Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre says the single engine Beechcraft Bonanza was discovered in a wooded area near a sewage treatment plant.

“There’s quite a bit of debris, the wreckage is very broken up, there were no survivors of the plane.”

By mid afternoon, investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were on site.

The Lee County Coroner says DNA will be collected to help identify the victims, once federal investigators give the okay.

“It is a severe crash area, I would rather not go into too many details at this time, but it appears there was a fire.”

Colonial Estates Road was eventually opened, but officials were quick to discourage curiosity seekers.

“Just like in the tornado, the people want to see the damage, while not intentionally causing harm they are not helping the situation by coming by and trying to see it.”

Investigators are still combing through the wreckage. The victims bodies will be sent to
Jackson for an autopsy.