TRAGIC

Tech Couple Killed in Plane Crash Near Lake Tahoe

One of the victims, Liron Petrushka, was a former Israeli professional soccer player.

Two Israeli citizens died Saturday night after the small plane they were traveling in crashed near the California-Nevada border, local authorities said. The Times of Israel identified the two victims as former professional soccer player Liron Petrushka and his wife, Naomi, who were living in California and working as tech entrepreneurs. “The club bows its head for the death of Liron Petrushka and his wife,” Einav Hazenvald, chairman of Petrushka’s former team, Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim, said in a statement. The Petrushkas’ plane, a single-engine Daher TBM N960LP, took off from Denver on Saturday afternoon around 4:20 p.m., according to FlightAware. It went down a little more than two hours later around 6:40 p.m. that evening while attempting to land at Truckee Tahoe Airport, police and airport personnel said. Light winds and moderate snow were falling at the time of the crash, according to local station KCRA, though the cause of it is unclear. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are investigating.