Universal Pictures said on Friday that a small plane with crew from a Tom Cruise movie, "Mena," crashed in the Colombian Andes and killed two crew members. The plane, which left the Santa Fe de Antioquia Airport, encountered bad weather while on its way back to the Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin, Colombia.
The actor was not aboard the ill-fated flight that was flown by two American pilots. Universal did not identify the two fatalities, saying further details are not yet available. But it said, "On behalf of the production our hearts and prayer go out to the crew members and their families at this difficult time.
However, People named the fatalities as American pilot Alan David Purwin and Carlos Berl, a Colombian. The second American pilot, Jimmy Lee Garind, is injured and rushed to a hospital in Medellin.
According to LA Times, "Mena" is about a TWA aviator who worked for Pablo Escobar, a cocaine drug lord. The movie is directed by Doug Liman.
The incidents highlights for stricter safety in film sets since there are at four previous incidents of deaths in film sets since actor Vic Morrow and two children died while filming in 1982 "Twilight Zone: The Movie."
In 2013, three people from Discovery Channel TV died during a helicopter crash in Action. In early 2015, there was another chopper crash in Argentina on the set of a reality TV show, while in 2014, a female camera assistant died and seven staff of the movie "Midnight Rider" were injured when a freight train hit the crew.
Randall Miller, the director of the film, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two years prison for the incident.