A medical evacuation plane crashed in the mountains of New Mexico, USA, killing all four people on board and causing a wildfire in the surrounding forest area.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the patient transport plane departed from Roswell Air Center and was en route to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport before losing radar and radio contact.
Trans Aero MedEvac, the medical flight service provider, revealed the plane was on a patient transport mission and was reported missing after communication was lost, before it was found crashed in the mountains, igniting a fire that spread to nearby forest areas.
Jason Burns, Lincoln District Manager, stated that the wildfire caused by the plane’s impact spread over about 35 acres (approximately 87 rai) by midday amid dry, windy conditions. Officials are working with U.S. Forest Service personnel to contain the fire due to concerns it might expand further.
Authorities said the cause of the accident is unknown. The wreckage was found around 08:00–09:00 near steep, rocky terrain in the Capitan Mountains, which is difficult to access. Rescue teams had to hike nearly half a mile to reach the site. The four deceased included crew members and medical personnel, though their identities have not been officially released.
In the past 18 months, the U.S. has experienced several medical aircraft accidents, including a jet crash in a Philadelphia urban neighborhood in January 2025 that killed eight people, and a crash in the Navajo Nation area in northern Arizona in August of the same year, which resulted in four deaths.
Additionally, in December last year, a Mexican Navy plane carrying eight people, including pediatric patients, crashed off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.
Recent studies show that over 20 years up to 2020, there were 87 medical aviation accidents resulting in 239 fatalities, mostly involving helicopters, with causes including human error such as pilot spatial disorientation, maintenance failures, fatigue, and incorrect weather assessments.
Experts note that fixed-wing medical evacuation flights are generally not riskier than regular flights, as they use standard airports like commercial airlines. However, medical helicopters face higher risks because they often land in temporary sites such as roads or accident scenes to quickly transport injured patients to hospitals.
,AP
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