The Arkansas-based environmental consulting firm that lost executives in a plane crash shortly after take-off from Little Rock on Wednesday turned to social media on Thursday to identify the victims.
“It is with a heavy heart that we acknowledge the passing of our colleagues – Gunter Beaty, Kyle Bennett, Micah Kendrick, Sean Sweeney and Glenmarkus Walker,” a post on Twitter from CTEH read. “They were valuable members of our team and CTEH family.”
All five men were on a twin-engine Beech BE20 that was heading to Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday when it crashed a few miles south of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, authorities said.
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The men worked for CTEH, a firm that consults with businesses, communities and governments on current and potential environmental threats.
The company’s website said Kendrick, 41, was a safety supervisor with experience in conducting real-time air monitoring during chemical release responses, among many other things.
Bennett, a 36-year-old staffing manager with a focus on logistics, has experience responding to crude oil releases, train derailments, chemical spills and other emergency responses, CTEH’s website said.
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CTEH said in an email on Thursday that Beaty, 23, was a production safety data manager; Walker, 32, was a rapid responder; and Sweeney, 64, was the pilot.
A company spokesman told The Associated Press that employees on the plane, including the pilot, were on their way to an explosion at a Cleveland-area metals plant this week that killed one worker and sent over a dozen more to the hospital.
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The crash occurred as a line of thunderstorms that the National Weather Service said included wind gusts of 40 mph moved through the Little Rock area, according to The Associated Press.