Plane Carrying Skydivers Crashes in Texas

March 31 -- A single-engine airplane carrying 22people crashed in a field east of Decatur today, injuring sixpeople, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

There were no fatalities, according to a spokesman with theFederal Aviation Administration office in Fort Worth who spoke oncondition of anonymity.

The injured passengers were taken by medical helicopter to areahospitals, DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said. Others were treated atthe scene.

The spokesman said the airplane was a 1956 Dehavilland, designedfor parachuting. "The details concerning it we don't know about,"he said.

Mange said investigators were trying to determine if the planewas a commercial or a private aircraft.

Dallas television stations KXAS and WFAA reported that theaccident occurred about 12:30 p.m. near Bishop Field, a small grassrunway airport about nine miles east of Decatur. Television camerasshowed the crumpled, single-engine plane near a cluster of trees.

Decatur is about 40 miles northwest of Fort Worth.