Authorities have identified three Texas men injured in a single-engine plane crash near Wiggins Thursday evening.
The pilot, Jeff Bramblett, 62, is from Mesquite and was flying a 2007 Cessna 602, said Lt. Lewis Husband of the Stone County Sheriff's Office.
Husband says Bramblett had head trauma, a broken arm and possibly other injuries.
Passengers were 66-year-old Joe Paul Mentesara of Dallas and 43-year-old Jeff Franklin of Sherman.
The men, who were flying to Mobile, Alabama, were taken by ambulance to Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg.
The crash was reported at 6:12 p.m. off Mississippi 29 and Oil Well Road, just north of Flint Creek Water Park. The location is about 4 miles east of Dean Griffin Memorial Airport in Wiggins.
Sheriff's officials say it appears the Cessna began having problems and the pilot tried to land the plane in a field, but the plane clipped a tree, tearing off its tail, and the aircraft nose-dived into a grassy area near the road.
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Federal Aviation Agency spokeswoman Katherine Bergen says the agency is investigating.
Local authorities say the FAA will likely take the wreckage elsewhere for further examination. An insurance company may also review the wreckage.
