Five dead as US medical transport plane crashes in Nevada

A medical transport plane crashed in the western US state of Nevada, killing all five on board, its operator said Saturday.

The plane went off radar Friday night outside the arid town of Stagecoach, near Nevada's border with California, REMSA Health said in a statement.

"We are heartbroken to report that we have now received confirmation from Central Lyon County Fire Department that none of the five people on board survived," the statement said.

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In addition to the pilot, the plane was carrying a nurse, a paramedic, a patient and a patient's family member, REMSA Health noted.

While the circumstances around the crash have yet to be confirmed, it occurred as a major winter storm pummels the US west coast, delivering feet of snow in the high mountains and even blanketing usually warm areas in southern California.

Almost 100,000 customers in California were without power Saturday evening, according to the PowerOutage.us tracker.

Major roads were also closed as ice and snow made them impassable, including sections of Interstate 5, the main north-south highway that connects Mexico, California, the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

Agence France-Prese