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Five people died after an air ambulance crashed in western Nevada

A Care Flight medical transport plane carrying a patient and four others that crashed the day before is seen Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Lyon County, Nev. All five people on board were killed.
Jason Bean
/
AP
A Care Flight medical transport plane carrying a patient and four others that crashed the day before is seen Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Lyon County, Nev. All five people on board were killed.

All five people on board an air ambulance died Friday after their plane crashed near the city of Stagecoach in western Nevada.

The plane was carrying a pilot, flight nurse, flight paramedic, a patient and a family member of the patient, according to REMSA Health, which provides the air ambulance service.

"We are in the process of notifying their family members," the organization wrote in a statement. "Our immediate focus is helping our team members and families, as well as the responding agencies."

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Around 9:15 p.m. local time on Friday, the Lyon County Dispatch Center began to receive multiple calls of a possible aircraft crash in Stagecoach, which is less than an hour's drive from Reno. The plane was found around 11:15 p.m. local time, according to the Lyon County Sheriff's Department.

The Central Lyon Fire Department and Lyon County Sheriff's Department are coordinating with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration is also assisting the investigation.

REMSA Health is a private, emergency response group that provides ground and helicopter ambulance service across northern Nevada and northeastern California.

The PC 12 fixed wing aircraft was part of the organization's Care Flight program, designed to respond under one hour and navigate complex terrain or difficult weather conditions.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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