Tom Cruise was minutes away from being killed in the ‘Mena‘ plane crash.
Two people have been killed in a plane crash while filming Tom Cruise’s new movie Mena in Columbia and reports suggest that the Hollywood actor nearly avoided death by a matter of minutes.
The crash, which isb eleived to have been caused by poor visibility, took the lives of veteran Hollywood stunt pilot Alan D. Purwin and Venezuelan pilot Carlos Brel. A third pilot Jimmy Lee Garland survived the crash with serious injuries all over his body.
However, according to the Associated Press, Tom Cruise had been flying the same path as where the accident occurred just 10 minutes before the fatal crash in the Andes Mountains.
Universal Pictures has also released a statement about the death of the pilots:
An aircraft carrying crew members crashed while returning to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin following production wrap on the film Mena resulting in two fatalities. 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
Pilot is recovering after surviving plane crash on set of Tom Cruise new movie Mena. The only survivor of a Columbian plane crash involving crew members of the upcoming Tom Cruise movie, Mena is slowly recovering but remains in critical condition.
Jimmy Lee Garland was pulled from the wreckage of a twin-engine plane that crashed into a mountain in Medellin, Columbia on Friday. Garland and three other crew members were leaving the set of Mena after filming several scenes during the day.
The head of the hospital where the pilot from Georgia is being treated said he underwent surgery Monday to treat bone fractures.
Garland’s wife and son flew to Medellin to assist in his recovery but are unable to communicate with him because he remains heavily sedated.
Neither Cruise nor director Doug Liman has yet to comment publicly on the accident.
‘Mena’ is based on a true story about Barry Seal, a pilot who, in the 1980s was a gun runner, and drug trafficker who transported contraband for the CIA and Medellin cartel. He was eventually shot and killed in Baton Rouge. The title of the movie comes from Mena, Arkansas where a majority of the drug trafficking took place under the noses of several presidents and governors.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
