YOAKUM, Texas – A small plane crashed Tuesday while approaching an airport in Yoakum, killing four members of a Tennessee church and leaving the lead pastor injured, authorities and the church said.
The single-engine Piper PA-46, otherwise known as a Piper Malibu, crashed in an open field about five miles south of the airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Yoakum, a city of about 6,000 people, is located in Lavaca and DeWitt counties and is about 45 minutes north of Victoria.
Five people were on board the plane, and four of them died from their injuries, according to Sgt. Ruben San Miguel of the Texas DPS.
Harvest Church, located in the Memphis suburb of Germantown, identified the four people killed as Bill Garner, the church’s executive vice president; Steve Tucker, a church elder; and Tyler Patterson and Tyler Springer.
Tucker was also the owner and president of Circle Y Saddles in Yoakum.
The church said lead pastor Kennon Vaughan was in stable condition at a hospital in Victoria.
“All were beloved members of Harvest Church and their loss currently leaves us without the proper words to articulate our grief,” the church said on its website.
DPS said the crash happened around 10:50 a.m. in Lavaca County. The plane crashed in a field near the area of County Road 462 and Farm-to-Market Road 318, not far from the Yoakum Community Hospital.
The cause of the crash is unknown at this time, but the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
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