Tom Cruise ‘Mena’ Filming Update: A Plane Crash Kills 2 Crew Members
Two crew members were killed in a plane crash near Colombia during the filming of "Mena" starring Tom Cruise. Alan D. Purwin, a Hollywood stunt pilot and Carlos Berl, a Venezuelan pilot had lost their lives in the tragedy.
According to Deadline.com, the two were killed when their plane tried to touch-down in foggy conditions in the Andes near Medellin, Colombia. Reports said that the crew had just wrapped up the filming of "Mena," when the tragedy struck.
Reporters added that just 10 minutes before the plane crash, Tom Cruise had traversed the same route in a helicopter.
Firstpost.com reported that the third passenger, Jimmy Lee Garland had survived the crash. He was immediately rushed to the intensive care unit and was still in a critical state. "Jimmy is the black box right now so we need to talk to him to find out what happened," an official from the aviation agency told the reporters.
He added that all the three passengers on-board were experienced pilots, but they were not sure about who was in command at the time of the crash.
Tom Cruise, 53, had arrived in Colombia to start work on his upcoming flick "Mena." The movie depicts the story of a pilot who worked as a notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Hollywood stunt pilot, Purwin was known for providing dramatic footage for movies like Pirates of Caribbean, Transformers and Pearl Harbor and several TV shows. Days ago, he had even shared photos from the set, including the shots of himself while hanging around with the Tom and the rest of the cast of "Mena."
A photo posted by apurwin (@apurwin) on Aug 24, 2015 at 7:03pm PDT
"Alan was both a pioneer in the film industry and committed philanthropist," Steve Gatena, CEO of Shotover said. He added that Alan had a legacy of feats. He had been a part of the first vital organ transplant mission in Los Angeles and was the only American Hollywood movie pilot to have flown throughout the People's Republic of China, deadline.com reported.
"An aircraft carrying crew members crashed while returning to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin following production wrap on the film Mena resulting in two fatalities," Universal's (Mena's distributor) spokesperson said in a statement after the crash.
He added, "On behalf of the production, our hearts and prayers go out to the crew members and their families at this difficult time."
"Mena" featuring Tom Cruisewould hit the big screens on January 6, 2017.
