3 killed when air ambulance crashes in Texas Panhandle

AMARILLO, Texas – Texas authorities say three people are dead after an air ambulance crashed overnight just south of the Amarillo airport.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Cindy Barkley says the single-engine plane went down about 12:30 a.m. Saturday in an industrial section of the city between Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport and Interstate 40.

Barkley says everyone aboard the plane was killed.

Rico Aviation, an air ambulance service based in Amarillo, issued a statement saying three of its crew members died. Their names haven’t been released. A company employee who answered the phone Saturday declined comment to The Associated Press.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford says the plane had just left the airport and was bound for Clovis, New Mexico.

Authorities haven’t said what may have caused the crash.