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“The aviator and co-pilot of a backstage jet, chartered by shot fable Yadier Molina, died connected Sunday (June 7, 2026) successful a fiery clang successful eastbound Dominican Republic,” authorities and the erstwhile subordinate said. A video posted connected societal media showed a immense plume of fume connected the runway of La Romana International Airport, portion trucks sprayed h2o to effort to power a fire.
The Dominican Civil Aviation Institute said the aviator and co-pilot, some Americans, died. "No passengers were reported connected board,” its connection said. "The craft declared an exigency portion astir 30 km (16 nautical miles) southwest of La Romana" and crashed arsenic it was attempting to onshore there,” it added. The authorization said an probe has been opened to find the origin of the clang of the Gulfstream G200 jet, which tin spot up to 18 passengers.
Molina, a erstwhile catcher for Major League Baseball's (MLB’s) St. Louis Cardinals, said the level had been bound for Texas to prime up him and his household and alert them to his autochthonal Puerto Rico. "My condolences to the pilots and their families," helium wrote successful a station connected Instagram, accompanied by a video of a level crash-landing astatine the airdrome and bursting into flames. Molina is considered 1 of the champion antiaircraft catchers successful MLB history. He won 2 World Series titles with the Cardinals implicit his 2004-2022 career.
The airdrome serves the tourer metropolis of La Romana. Tourism is cardinal to the system of the Dominican Republic, a state of 11.6 cardinal radical located successful the Caribbean. In 2021, 9 radical died successful a backstage level clang aft departing from Las Americas International Airport successful the capital, Santo Domingo.
