Plane Crashes in Tennessee With 20 on Board

A plane carrying 20 people crashed in Coffee County, Tenn., on Sunday, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Some of those on board have been airlifted to hospitals, the patrol said on social media.

The patrol said initial reports suggested that 16 to 20 people were in the plane but the F.A.A. confirmed that 20 were on board.

The agency said the plane that crashed was a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. It crashed shortly after departing Tullahoma Regional Airport around 12:45 p.m. local time.

Additional details about the victims, their injuries and the circumstances of the crash were not immediately available.

Terry Janiak, 66, who lives across the street from the airport in Tullahoma, Tenn., which is about 75 miles south of Nashville, said the crash happened near the Beechcraft Heritage Museum, just short of the airport’s runway.

“The cockpit area looked pretty rough on the airplane,” Mr. Janiak said.

Sheila Stone, 57, who has lived across from the airport for 20 years, said she was sitting on her back porch with her dogs when the plane passed startlingly close overhead.

Ms. Stone initially thought the plane might strike one of the taller trees in her backyard, but somehow, she said, the pilot was able to avoid it.

“How he cleared that tree is a miracle,” Ms. Stone said.

Ms. Stone said the plane appeared to be trying to reach the main airport runway. She said she believed that one of the wings struck a tree near the museum, spinning the plane before it went down in a nearby field.

“I’ve never been that scared,” she said. “I have airplanes flying over daily but never that low and close to my house thinking it’s about to crash in my yard.”