Seven people, including Illinois State University associate men's basketball coach Torrey Ward and deputy athletic director Aaron Leetch, died when their small plane crashed while heading back from the NCAA tournament final.
The aircraft went down overnight Monday about 2 miles east of the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, McLean County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Bill Tate said.
That's about 5 miles from the campus of Illinois State, where Ward and Leetch both worked. It was not immediately known who else was on the aircraft, which the National Transportation Safety Board tweeted was a Cessna 414, according to the (CNN).
The plane was coming back from the NCAA Final Four championship game in Indianapolis, according to Illinois State athletics spokesman John Twork.