A plane crash near Saunders Street in Laredo shut down traffic on Loop 20 Tuesday night and brought emergency crews to the area near Clark Boulevard. The Laredo Police Department said both northbound and southbound lanes were closed while officers worked the scene.
KGNS-TV 8 reported the crash happened around 10pm, and officers said the aircraft was a small passenger plane that had crash landed right by the train tracks. Victims were pulled out of the plane, and an officer said the people taken out were alive. The officer also said it did not appear there were injuries on the ground from the crash.
The closure hit drivers using one of the main routes through Laredo at the same time the incident was unfolding. Texas Department of Transportation warned people traveling through the impacted area to expect delays, while the police department urged motorists to avoid the area and use alternate routes until further notice.
One of the unresolved questions is why the aircraft came into Laredo at all. A post shared online said the flight was going to Austin from San Jose Del Cabo but diverted to Laredo, and another said the aircraft was a Cessna Citation Latitude that can typically hold 8-9 passengers. None of that explained why the plane diverted before landing, and authorities said details were preliminary.
The aircraft was later watered down within a secured perimeter, and the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA were expected to carry out their own investigations. For now, the scene has shifted from a burning plane on the ground to a case file, with the cause of the crash still unknown.
