Sky-Diving Plane Crashes In La.; 3 Killed, 2 Hurt

CROWLEY, La. (AP) — A small plane carrying a group of sky divers has crashed in south-central Louisiana, killing three people and injuring two others on board.

Acadia Parish sheriff's deputy Maxine Trahan says there was a pilot and four jumpers aboard the single-engine plane.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford says witnesses reported seeing the Cessna 182 take off about 2:30 p.m. Saturday from LeGros Memorial Airport in Acadia Parish. Lunsford says the plane was about 200 feet in the air when it lost power and the pilot attempted to make it back to the runway.

Katc.com is reporting that killed in the crash were Jeffery Dille, 56 of Sulphur who was the pilot of the Cessna 182. Also killed were passengers Wendell Keith Nielson, 63 of Lafayette and Ervin Jon Gaspard, 33 of Youngsville. Two other people were injured in the crash; 22-year-old T.J. Middleton of Port Barre and the plane's owner, 65-year-old Joseph Leroy Taylor of Matagorda, Texas. Trahan says one of the survivors has been released from the hospital and the other is staying overnight.