Two killed as Tom Cruise movie crew plane crashes in Colombia
Two crew members of a movie starring Tom Cruise have died in a plane crash in Colombia.
"On behalf of the production, our hearts and prayers go out to the crew members and their families at this difficult time," Universal Pictures said in a statement on Saturday.
The crew had just wrapped up production on the upcoming film, Mena, when their plane crashed on Friday while returning to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin.
The plane went down near the town of San Pedro de los Milagros in a mountainous area of Colombia's department of Antioquia.
The twin-engine aircraft crashed Friday about 5:30 p.m. local time (2230 GMT), said Uriel Bedoya of the national civil aviation authority Aerocivil.
Cruise arrived in Colombia on August 20 to record scenes for the film, which is based on the life of American pilot Barry Seal, who worked for Pablo Escobar, the drug kingpin who was killed in Medellin in 1993.
The two deceased passengers, both Americans, were identified as Alan Purwin and Carlos Berl.
The plane's pilot, Jimmy Lee Garland, was injured in the crash and is being treated at a hospital in Medellin.
Officials said that at the time of the crash, flying conditions were generally good and there was still daylight.
Authorities are investigating, however, whether sudden wind gusts played a role in the accident.
The crash was the latest in a series of deadly incidents involving film crews.
In March, eight French nationals and two Argentine pilots died in a helicopter crash while filming a television reality show.
Three people were killed during the 2013 crash of a helicopter while filming a reality TV series for the Discovery Channel.
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