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By Jordan King
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A small plane crashed onto a Texas highway late Tuesday, killing at least one person and leaving five police officers hospitalized for smoke inhalation after they attempted to rescue those on board.
The aircraft was carrying six people when it came down on Loop 20 in Laredo shortly after 10 p.m. and caught fire, Laredo Police Department investigator Jose Baeza said. It is not yet clear what caused the crash.
It is also unclear whether the person who died was on the plane or the ground, according to the Associated Press.
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Multiple people left their vehicles on the highway to try to smash the cockpit window and help free those inside.
The plane was a Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet, according to information from FlightAware, an aviation tracking and data company. It departed from Los Cabos International Airport in Mexico at 6:19 p.m.
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Witness Account of the Crash Scene
Zayra Garza, an esthetician, was taking her co-workers home when she encountered the crash scene. As she neared the wreckage, she began recording video and then pulled over opposite the damaged aircraft, which had caught fire.
Her footage showed the plane on its side, smashed into a highway barrier, with its tail ripped from the fuselage.
"It looked like part of a movie. I was in shock," Garza said. She added that she saw someone inside the plane trying to break the cockpit window to escape before others on the highway left their cars to try to help, according to the Associated Press.
When the door opened, three people—who she said looked to be teenagers—rushed out, followed by someone she assumed was the pilot.
A member of the crew was trying to pull someone out of the plane who appeared to be unconscious, she added.
"What was worrying me was the fire," Garza continued. "I was concerned that it could have just exploded at any time."
Recent Fatal Plane Crashes
The crash in Laredo comes amid heightened public attention on aviation safety, following a string of plane crashes and incidents that have made national headlines.
On Sunday, 12 people aboard a skydiving plane died after it crashed near Butler Memorial Airport in Missouri.
The Skydive Kansas City aircraft was engulfed in fire when it "landed in a field adjacent to the airport," Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Justin Ewing said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
In March, an Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck on the runway of New York's LaGuardia Airport, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring two Port Authority employees.
In air traffic audio recorded moments after the collision and reviewed by Newsweek, one controller could be heard saying that he had "messed up."
The deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than two decades occurred on January 29, 2025, when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided midair with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C. All 67 people aboard the two aircraft were killed.
These crashes, and others, have prompted renewed scrutiny of aviation safety, with federal investigators issuing dozens of recommendations and Congress holding hearings on the FAA's safety oversight and response to recent accidents.
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