Nine people were killed Sunday when a business jet bound for the Bahamas crashed on a road in a residential area of Palm Beach County, Florida, according to a joint statement from the victims' families. The families said a family of four with ties to Austin was among the dead, including two children, ages 4 and 2. The seven passengers they named were Adam Robinson, Helen Sharp, their children Emma and Charlie, Rachael Reed, Charmi Fehr and Anita Maria Cetina. Robinson was the founder and CEO of Retention.com and RB2b, marketing technology companies. Sharp had been CEO and founding partner of Influential PR. Two pilots also died, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The jet left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at about 9:37 a.m. for North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, NTSB board member Tom Chapman said. Federal investigators said the crew reported ice building up on the aircraft and turbulence strong enough to push it hundreds of feet up or down shortly before it plunged toward the ground. One man suffered a leg injury while driving away from the area, investigators said. Officials have not determined what caused the crash.
About 400 people were evacuated from the neighborhood while crews searched for debris. Investigators described a debris field about half a mile long. Media reports identified one of the pilots, but authorities had not confirmed that person's identity.