1 killed when small plane crashes on Texas highway. People leave
vehicles to try to help
[June 17, 2026]
By HALLIE GOLDEN
A business jet with six people on board crashed on a highway in Laredo,
Texas, and caught fire Tuesday night, authorities said, killing one
person and causing chaos as people left their vehicles to frantically
try to smash the cockpit window and free those inside.
Drivers who came upon the burning plane, which was nearly sheared in
half and tipped on its side, captured dramatic rescue scenes on video or
rushed toward the aircraft on foot to help. Two people came running with
a sledgehammer and shovel, which they used to strike the cockpit glass
and try propping open the plane's door.
The plane crashed on the Loop 20 highway near the Texas-Mexico border
shortly after 10 p.m., said Jose Baeza, an investigator with the Laredo
Police Department. It was unclear if the person who died was on the
plane or the ground.
Dashcam footage posted on social media showed the aircraft careening
down the highway, taking out a light post before coming to a stop. It
came to a rest not far from the Laredo International Airport.
“It looked like part of a movie. I was in shock,” said Zayra Garza, an
esthetician who was driving her co-workers home when she came upon the
crash.
No injuries on the ground were immediately reported, though five
officers were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
The plane was a Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet, according to
information from FlightAware, an aviation tracking and data company. It
departed from Los Cabos International Airport in Mexico at 6:19 p.m.
It's not clear what caused the crash as it reached Laredo, about 140
miles (225 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio. Laredo International
Airport Director Gilberto Sanchez told KGNS TV in Laredo that the plane
experienced a mechanical failure. He provided no details.
Video posted to social media showed the plane on its side, smashed into
a highway barrier. The tail was ripped from the fuselage and laying
mostly intact on a lower-level road beneath where the rescue was taking
place.
Garza began shooting video as she approached the scene and then stopped
her vehicle across from the crippled jet, which was on fire.
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A passenger, top, jumps out of a plane after it crashed on a highway
as other people help Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Laredo, Texas. (Zayra
Garza via AP)
She saw someone inside the plane trying to break the cockpit window
to escape. Soon, people got out of their vehicles to try to smash
the window from the outside as the fire on the fuselage continues to
burn.
Garza’s husband jumped out of their vehicle to help and Garza then
saw the door of the plane open. She said three people who looked to
be teenagers rushed out, followed by someone who appeared to be a
pilot. Another member of the crew tried to pull out a person who
seemed to be unconscious.
As smoke billowed from the plane, a firefighter used a small ladder
to climb into the aircraft to rescue the remaining passenger, while
others shot water out of a hose at the wreckage. Rescuers can be
heard calling for a rope as others use rods to hold up the plane
door.
Several times, officers helping prop open the door dart away from
the plane and double over in coughing fits because of the intense
smoke.
“What was worrying me was the fire,” she said. “I was concerned that
it could have just exploded at any time.”
This was the third significant aviation accident in as many days. A
B-52 crashed Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base
in California and killed all eight people aboard, while on Sunday,
12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri
crashed.
NetJets said in a statement that the crash involved one of its
aircraft and it is working with authorities. NetJets is owned by
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and allows people to buy part
ownership in private jets.
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