Four people died and five others were injured when a charter plane carrying US charter passengers crashed off a Nevada airport early Saturday, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
The plane was en route from Seattle to Las Vegas when it ran out of fuel at the Henderson airport, NTSB Chairman Robert P. McCaw said in a statement.
No injuries were reported.
The Boeing 757, owned by the American Aviation Society, was enroute from Seattle’s Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Las Cruces, New Mexico, the agency said.
The pilot reported that the engine had stalled and the aircraft had a nose-down attitude, but the NTSb said that the pilots were unable to confirm this.
The pilot reported a bad wing on approach, according to the NTSB, and the plane went into a spin and crashed about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Las Cruce.
“I have been involved in charter aircraft and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said David Pomerantz, a former NTSB assistant director for investigations.
“We’ve never had a plane like this before.”
The NTSB said that there were no injuries on the plane, but that some of the passengers had medical issues.
Boeing said it was cooperating with the NTSb’s investigation.