A private jet bound for Texas to pick up former MLB All-Star catcher Yadier Molina, his family and his friends crashed during an emergency landing in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, killing both American pilots on board.
Molina, who said on social media that the group had been planning a trip to Puerto Rico, expressed his grief following the tragedy.
“My condolences to the pilots and their family!” he wrote.
The U.S.-registered Gulfstream G200 jet had initially departed from Puerto Rico and landed at La Romana International Airport to refuel before charting its course for Austin, Texas, according to the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation.
Shortly after takeoff, the crew declared an emergency due to severe mechanical problems. Local media reports indicate the flight was roughly 16 nautical miles southwest of the airport when the pilots turned back to attempt an emergency landing.
Dramatic footage from the incident shows the jet scraping along the runway on its rear wheels before it bounced and erupted into a massive fireball, completely destroying the aircraft.
Emergency services rushed to the scene, and operations at the airfield were temporarily canceled while firefighters tackled the blaze. Authorities confirmed that no passengers were on board the flight.
The IDAC released a statement outlining the initial response: “The U.S.-registered aircraft, registered to an executive aviation company, had its two crew members on board: the pilot and co-pilot. No passengers were reported. The aeronautical authorities activated the corresponding protocols and are conducting onsite investigations to determine the causes of the incident.”
According to the Aviation Safety Network, a website run by the Flight Safety Foundation and which keeps track of aviation accidents, the plane was a Gulfstream G200 with the registration N318JF.
The G200 has capacity for up to 18 passengers but no one other than the pilots are believed to have been on board.
Officials have not yet publicly released the names of the two American pilots as the joint investigation by the IDAC and the Commission for Aviation Accident Investigation progresses.
The incident comes after at least 66 people were killed and dozens more injured when a Colombian military plane crashed into the Amazon rainforest moments after taking off.
There were 128 people, mostly soldiers, on board the Lockheed Martin Hercules C-130 plane when it took off from Puerto Leguizamo in southern Colombia in March.
Footage showed the plane descending to the ground shortly afterwards, in a section of dense jungle close to the border with Peru before exploding into flames in the jungle.
