RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty ImagesSad news—two crew members working on Mena, one of Tom Cruise's new movies, were killed when their plane crashed into a mountain in Medellin, Colombia on Friday.
The actor himself was not on the plane, a small, twin-engine, propeller-driven 1969 Piper Aerostar 600. The two people killed were identified as the aircraft's owner, U.S. film pilot Alan Purwin, and Carlos Berl, who is from Colombia. A third person, U.S. pilot Jimmy Lee Garland, was hospitalized with severe injuries, according to Variety.
"An aircraft carrying crew members crashed while returning to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin following [the] production wrap on the film Mena, resulting in two fatalities," a Universal Pictures said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times. "Further details are not available at this time. On behalf of the production, our hearts and prayers go out to the crew members and their families at this difficult time."
The plane was specifically being used to transport Mena crew members, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Production on the movie began in Georgia in May. The film is set in the '80s and is based on a true story. Cruise plays a Barry Seal, a commercial airline pilot and drug runner who worked for the CIA on an undercover mission to try to nab cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. The actor had famously played a fighter pilot in the 1986 film Top Gun, which is getting a sequel, and is a licensed pilot in real life.
Two weeks ago, Purwin posted on his Instagram page a photo of himself and Cruise on set in Colombia as well as photos of himself flying his plane.
Other Mena cast members include Lola Kirke, Domhnall Gleeson, Jesse Plemons and Glee alum Jayma Mays. Mena was directed by Doug Liman, who worked with Cruise on the movie The Edge of Tomorrow, and is set for release in 2017.