Crop duster died in plane crash into soybean field

OXFORD, Ind. (WISH) — A crop duster died Monday night in a single-engine plane crash in a soybean field southwest of the town of Oxford, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office said .

News 8 reached out to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday afternoon to see if the man had yet been identified.

Dispatchers received a call about a possible plane crash just before 6:45 p.m. Monday along County Road 200 East between county roads 700 South and 800 South. That’s about 2 miles southwest of Oxford.

Authorities with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Authority and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management were to begin an investigation Tuesday afternoon. Sheriff John Cox also says the Benton County Coroner’s Office is handling the death investigation.

The first to arrive found a yellow, fixed-wing crop dusting plane upside-down and on fire in a field. Crews put out the flames, and found the male pilot dead.

Bi-State Air in Veedersburg owns and operates the airplane, the sheriff said in a news release issued Tuesday morning.

With 1,100 residents, Oxford is about a 90-minute drive northwest of downtown Indianapolis.