Five dead in plane crash near Augusta

THOMSON, Georgia – A small plane aborted its landing at a Georgia airport before hitting a 60-foot-tall utility pole and crashing, killing five people on board and injuring two, federal authorities said Thursday.
Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that the plane burst into flames after the crash. One of the plane's wings was severed when it hit the pole, causing fuel to leak out and then ignite, he said. The plane is almost completely destroyed.
“You go over there and say, 'Where is the plane?'” Sumwalt said.
The reason for the aircraft's aborted landing is unclear.
Thomson-McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall said two survivors were taken to hospitals. One man is in critical condition at Georgia Regents Medical Center in Augusta, hospital spokeswoman Christen Carter said. The condition of the other survivor and where that person was taken is unknown.
The plane had taken off from Nashville, Tennessee, and crashed while landing at Thomson-McDuffie Regional Airport, about 30 miles west of Augusta, said Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
John Bankhead, spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said the five dead bodies were taken to a department lab in Decatur for autopsies. Their identities have not yet been determined.
Five of those on board are affiliated with a vein clinic in Augusta that also has offices in Tennessee, said Dr. Stephen Davis, a plastic surgeon who works for the Vein Guys clinic in Nashville. Davis said those on board were: Dr. Steven Roth, two ultrasound technicians, a nurse anesthetist and a secretary. He said Roth regularly flies to Vein Guys clinics in the area, although other doctors working for the clinic did not travel.
Davis said his brother, Dr. Keith Davis, and Roth co-founded the Augusta clinic. He described Roth as “a great guy, a great doctor, dedicated to his patients and his family.”
Deputy County Fire Chief Stephen Sewell told the Augusta Chronicle that the two survivors were a pilot and a passenger, but he did not provide any further information about the people on board.
A brush fire broke out near the accident site, in a wooded area behind an industrial plant about half a mile from the airport. Witnesses reported power outages, prompting a power company to send workers to the scene.
The crash site was on the opposite side of a state road from the end of the runway.
Patricia Reese and her husband live in a farmhouse near the site. She said they were watching television Wednesday night when they were startled by noise and a power outage.
“The lights were flashing and going out, and suddenly we heard this noise,” Reece said. “It sounded like thunder that just wouldn't stop.”
Reece's husband grabbed a flashlight and they walked into the pitch-black field behind their house. Soon they saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles and thick smoke rising from the woods, she said.