A plane carrying seven people home from attending the NCAA basketball championship in Indianapolis crashed in foggy conditions early Tuesday in central Illinois, killing everyone aboard.
The plane crashed into a field just outside of Bloomington, near the city’s airport, authorities said. They were almost home when tragedy struck.
Among the dead were Torrey Ward, former UAB basketball star and assistant coach at Illinois State, Terry Stralow, a partner in a popular bar in Bloomington-Normal, Scott Bittner, the owner of a meat-processing company and the owner of the twin-engine Cessna 414 that crashed and other friends as well as the pilot.
The 42-year-old Bittner was married and had a 10-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter.
“They were supposed to land around midnight. My daughter was called at 4 a.m. There was no contact,” Scott Barrows, the father-in-law of Bittner told the Chicago Tribune. “It has been confirmed they are dead.”
His newly widowed wife is “in shock, obviously,” her father told the paper.
“It’s going to be tough, but we’ll be there for them,” Barrows said. “I’ll be there for our grandchildren.”
Authorities have yet to say what caused the plane crash.
