Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tyson Brummett was among four people who died in a plane crash in Utah, authorities said Friday. Brummett, 35, was piloting a small plane from the South Valley Regional Airport in West Jordan, Utah, when it crashed near Box Elder Peak in American Fork Canyon, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement from press.
“A man and two of his children were walking when they saw the plane start to turn, then spiral down,” the sheriff’s office said. “The witness said the plane disappeared from view and moments later he heard the impact.”
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The witness called 911 and then got off the plane where he saw the remains and the victims, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities responded to the scene in a helicopter and “verified that there were four occupants on board the plane and all four appeared to have died on impact.”
In addition to Brummett, authorities identified the other victims as Alex Blackhurst Ruegner, 35, Elaine W. Blackhurst, 60, and her husband, Douglas Robinson Blackhurst. The Blackhurst were Ruegner’s uncles and aunts, authorities said.
The Phillies reacted to the news with a message expressing “sincere condolences.”
“The Phillies organization sends condolences to the family and friends of former pitcher Tyson Brummett, along with three members of the Ruegnar and Blackhurst families, who tragically died in a plane crash yesterday morning,” the Philadelphia Phillies tweeted Saturday. .
CBS Philadelphia reports that Brummett was selected in the fifth round of the draft in 2007 and played in a game with the Phillies in 2012.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation.
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