Seven Killed in Illinois Plane Crash Returning from NCAA Championship Game
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auimeesri/iStock/Thinkstock(BLOOMINGTON, Ill.) — Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the deadly crash of a private plane returning from the NCAA tournament from Indianapolis to Bloomington, Illinois early Tuesday.
All seven people aboard were killed, including Illinois State University’s associate men’s basketball coach Torrey Ward and another member of ISU’s athletic department.
The twin engine Cessna plane left Indianapolis early Tuesday morning after the NCAA Championship game late Monday night, and crashed two miles from the airport.
Carl Olson, executive director of the Bloomington Airport Authority, said in a news conference on Tuesday the crash happened late at night.
“The airport was open, all the systems for the airport were functioning properly,” Olson said. “The tower closes at 10 p.m., so the tower was not open when the aircraft was scheduled to arrive; that is not an anomaly. That is a very common thing at airports all across the country.”
Federal investigators are now combing through the wreckage site trying to figure out what went wrong.
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