5 dead in small plane crash in Little Rock

Five Arkansas environmental employees heading to a deadly Ohio metal plant explosion were killed in a plane crash Wednesday, officials said.

The twin-engine plane crashed several miles south of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, where it had departed from around noon, the Federal Aviation Administration told The Post.

The plane went down near a wooded area and reportedly sparked an intense fire.

All five on board were killed in the wreck.

The identities of the victims have not yet been released. But CTEH, a local environmental consulting firm, said the passengers and pilot were all employees making a 730-mile trip to Columbus, Ohio.

The group was responding to the Tuesday explosion at the I. Schumann & Co. copper alloy company in the Cleveland suburbs that killed one veteran worker and sent more than a dozen people, including at least two in critical condition, to area hospitals.

CTEH had also sent workers to East Palestine last week in the wake of the train derailment that contaminated over 1 million gallons of water and 15,000 pounds of soil so far, according to the EPA.

“We are incredibly saddened to report the loss of our Little Rock colleagues,” Paul Nony, senior vice president of CTEH, said in a statement. “We ask everyone to keep the families of those lost and the entire CTEH team in their thoughts and prayers.”

Officials are still investigating the cause of the crash, but it occurred as the National Weather Service reported a line of thunderstorms with wind gusts of 40 mph in the area.

Residents said the crash caused several explosions and sparked a large fire.

Dennis Gordon told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he was standing on a street nearby the crash when he heard the wind pick up and then an explosion followed by several smaller explosions followed, and then a huge fire.

“It was just red, then it starts turning black, and there’s this burnt smell,” Gordon said.

With Post wires