From the Las Vegas Review Journal

Three of the four men injured in a small plane crash near Henderson Executive Airport Sunday are active-duty military — a Navy SEAL and two sailors assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., the Navy said Monday.

The servicemen, whose names have not yet been released, are in serious but stable condition at University Medical Center, the Navy said.

“They were on a private aircraft on a personal trip that they were returning from. All were in a liberty status,” Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton said by telephone from Coronado, which is home to several SEAL teams and other components of the Navy‘s special operations forces.

Walton said a fourth man in the single-engine Piper Cherokee is a civilian. Witnesses said the plane was on fire when it crashed in the desert three miles southeast of Anthem, near the Inspirada community, after departing from Henderson Executive Airport at about 1:20 p.m. Sunday. The men were able to escape the wreck about 90 seconds before it exploded.

From SOFREP

“High summertime temperatures and high elevations increase density altitude, combine this with overloading a small aircraft and you usually have all the ingredients that contribute to departure stall crashes like these,” according to FigtherSweep.com Editor Scott Wolff. 

The names have not been released, but SOFREP has confirmed that, of the three who were injured, two of the SEALs remain in the hospital for burn injuries. The three SEALs comprised one junior officer from SEAL Team One and two students enrolled in post-BUD/S SEAL Qualification Training (SQT).

An anonymous NSW source informed SOFREP that the SQT students requested to go to Las Vegas, but the request was denied.

All BUD/S students must complete SQT prior to earning their SEAL pin and being assigned to a SEAL Team.

(Featured Image Courtesy: Fox5Vegas)