DELAWARE, Ohio — A single-engine plane crashed on Interstate 71, killing three people and injuring the other person on board, the State Highway Patrol said.

        The pilot, Noah F. Givets, tried to make an emergency landing late Friday on the highway median, but crashed in the southbound lanes about 25 miles north of Columbus, said Sgt. Gary Lewis.

Troopers investigate the crash that killed three and injured one. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        Mr. Givets, 29, a professional flight instructor from Bexley, a Columbus suburb, and passenger Jason Dean, 22, of Carroll, died at the scene.

        Another passenger, Brooke Wilson, 21, of Salem, died Saturday afternoon from head injuries, said Grant Medical Center nursing supervisor Brian Davis.

        Her twin sister, Nicole Wilson, was in critical but stable condition at Ohio State University Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Mary Van Fleet said Saturday night. She had head and abdominal injuries and broken bones, Ms. Van Fleet said.

        Mr. Givets was flying back to Ohio State's Don Scott Airport in Columbus from Cleveland, said Dick Willis of Willis Aviation, a minority partner in Windhover Limited Partnership, the company that owns the plane.

        The plane left Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport at 9:30 p.m., Sgt. Lewis said.

        Within 15 minutes, Mr. Givets radioed Don Scott to report that the plane was in trouble and that he would attempt to land at the Delaware Municipal Airport, Sgt. Lewis said.

        “They told the tower that they had some mechanical problems,” he said. Sgt. Lewis did not know the cause of the crash.

        Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

        The nose of the 1966 Beechcraft Musketeer was crumpled and its body heavily damaged. Wreckage was strewn across the road and grassy median.

        Truck driver Gary Fulton, of Columbus, was traveling south on the highway when he heard on the radio that a plane went down at 10:39 p.m.

        “We heard the plane hit the ground and people started yelling into their CB radios,” he said. “I saw three people in the airplane and one on the ground, then I just started getting blankets and giving medical assistance.”

        Two cars traveling south crashed while trying to avoid hitting the plane, Sgt. Lewis said. No one in the cars was injured.

        The crash closed Interstate 71 in both directions for four hours.

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