Producers Of Tom Cruise Movie Mena Sued Over Fatal Plane Crash

The filmmakers behind new Tom Cruise movie ‘Mena’ are being sued for wrongful death, following a fatal plane crash while the movie was shooting last year.

Alan Purwin, an experienced stunt pilot (pictured with Cruise above), was killed when a twin-engine plane crashed in Colombia in September, 2015.

Purwin’s widow Kathryn and his sons Kyle and Michael are claiming that Carlos Berl, who was flying the plane and also died in the crash, was not qualified to do so.

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Naming Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Quadrant Pictures and Vendian Entertainment, and Berl’s estate as the defendants, the suit claims that Berl 'lacked the necessary qualifications, skills, competence, and general sustainability for the flight’.

The plane went down in foggy conditions in the Andes mountain range near Medellin, killing both Berl and 54-year-old Purwin, while another passenger survived.

Cruise had been in a helicopter taking the same flight path only 10-minutes ahead of the plane, and is not named in the lawsuit.

Purwin had worked as a pilot on a wealth of blockbuster movies, from 'Die Hard’ and 'Speed’ to, more recently, 'Jurassic World’ and 'Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’.

The film centres on the true story of Barry Seal, a pilot who flew planes for legendary cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s.

He was later recruited by the CIA to help bring Escobar down.

Directed by Doug Liman and also starring Domhnall Gleeson and Jesse Plemons, it’s due out in January 2017.

Image credit: Instagram/Deadline