Commuter Plane Crashes in Bad Weather, Killing 18 in Minnesota

A Northwest Airlink commuter plane crashed Wednesday night in foggy, rainy weather near this northeastern Minnesota town, killing all 18 people aboard, authorities said.

There were no survivors among the 16 passengers and two crew members, said Mort Edelstein, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Airline spokesman Jon Austin confirmed a total of 18 dead.

Edelstein said the plane was two to three miles from the airport at an altitude of 7,500 feet when it disappeared from radar.

The twin-engine turboprop was found upside down, broken in three pieces, firefighters said.

Bill Hanegmon, a sheriff’s deputy who was the first rescue worker on the scene, said the plane appeared to have skidded across a road and into the side of a huge mound of iron-ore waste. Debris was scattered over about 50 yards.

The weather at the time of the crash was foggy, with freezing drizzle, but it was not immediately known whether those conditions contributed to the crash.

Austin said the plane, Flight 5719 from Minneapolis to Hibbing, was a Northwest Airlink commuter plane operated by Express Airlines II, Inc.

Hibbing, about 200 miles north of Minneapolis, is in the the Iron Range, an area where taconite, used in steel making, is produced.

Piles of waste ore are stored in mine dumps, usually extending hundreds of feet into the air.

Brent Bahler, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, said an NTSB investigative team was flying from Washington to Hibbing.