A plane crash in Texas Hill Country has left five people dead. The aircraft, which was carrying a group of pickleball players, crashed late Thursday night.
The incident happened around 11 p.m. near Wimberley, which is about 40 miles southwest of Austin. According to officials, the plane went down in a wooded area, and everyone on board, including the pilot and four passengers, died at the scene.
Authorities haven’t released the victims’ names yet, but the Amarillo Pickleball Club said the people on board were members who were traveling to a tournament.
The Cessna 421C had left Amarillo and was heading toward New Braunfels National Airport. Images from the scene showed the plane badly damaged among trees.
People living near the area recalled how intense it felt. One resident said they were at home when they heard the crash; everything then shook around them. The force was so strong, they initially thought their own property might be on fire.
The group had been on their way to a pickleball event at The Cranky Pickle.
After the news, organizers decided to cancel Friday’s tournament and instead planned to take a moment to honor the victims before resuming play the next day.
Those involved in the sport said the community is very close, so the loss has hit especially hard.
The president of the Amarillo Pickleball Club shared that he personally knew most of the people on board and had played with them many times.
He described them as dedicated players who regularly traveled to compete.
Interestingly, another plane had also been heading to the same event from Amarillo at the same time, but that one landed safely in New Braunfels.
Air traffic control recordings later revealed that the crashed plane had started behaving unpredictably before disappearing from radar.
Not long afterwards, its emergency locator signal was also triggered.
Weather conditions in the area were mostly cloudy before the crash, with a thunderstorm moving through a couple of hours later, according to officials.
Both Wimberley and New Braunfels are popular spots for visitors in the Texas Hill Country, making the incident even more shocking for the local community.
