The five people killed in the crash of a private jet in Virginia included the CEO of a Florida flight school along with his wife and their 3-year-old son.
Alfredo Diez, CEO of Atlantis Flight Academy in Pembroke Pines, was with wife Kseniia Shanina and their young son Nicholas when the twin-engine IAI Astra crashed into a hillside while trying to make an emergency landing at Ingalls Field Airport on Sunday afternoon, WPLG reported.
They died along with their pilot and co-pilot, identified by loved ones as Claudio Colmenares and Gagan Reddy, both also from South Florida, according to the outlet.
The plane, which was en route from Fort Lauderdale, crashed in the Hot Springs area of Bath County, about 160 miles northwest of Richmond, while the crew was trying to land because of an emergency, according to Jeff Ford, chairman of the Bath County Airport Authority.
It caught fire on impact, a state police spokesman said.
Diez also owned Sky Jet Elite, a charter company located at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, WSLS reported. It was not immediately clear if the doomed plane was tied to his businesses or if his family were just passengers.
“I’m just still in shock,” neighbor Kristen Abrams told WPLG, whose 10-year-old son would play with Nicholas.
“They were a young family and a vibrant part of the neighborhood.”
Another neighbor, Angela Pereyra, also was stunned by the horrible news.
“I’m in shock when that happened,” she told WSVN. “They have a little girl and they always like, nice family, you know?”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the deadly crash.
“Essentially, everything is on the table, until we slowly and methodically remove each component off the table and rule it out as a factor,” the NTSB’s Adam Gearheart told the outlet.