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Tom Cruise 'partially to blame' for death of two men, families claim

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PHOTO: Gallo images/Getty Images
PHOTO: Gallo images/Getty Images

Cape Town - Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman are being blamed for a plane crash that tragically killed two pilots on the set of their movie American Made in Columbia 2015.

Three of the pilots hired in the movie were involved in the fatal crash when their twin-engine Piper Smith Aerostar 600 went down in the mountains, reports People.

Tragically, Alan Purwin and Carlos Berl died on the scene, while Jimmy Lee Garland was left paralysed from the waist down. 

The families of the two victims claim that Tom and Doug’s action-packed film and multiple takes of the high-risk flying scenes added hours to filming, which in turn extended the number of days spent in Colombia.  

According to Blast, court documents show how a worried Alan complained to executive producers just weeks before the crash happened about how dangerous the project really was.

“You have no idea the exposure TC (Tom Cruise) and the entire Aerial Team is realising every time we get in the air,” Alan wrote in an email to executive producers.

“There’s a very ‘thin line’ between keeping all aerial activities safe and having an accident. Trust me on this!”

The family of the deceased are both suing the producers of the film – Imagine Entertainment, Vendian Entertainment, and Cross Creek Pictures – for wrongful death and damages.

“Lapses in planning, coordinating, scheduling, and flight safety that were the Defendants’ responsibility resulted in an unqualified and unprepared pilot being pressed into service for a dangerous flight in a vintage aircraft across an unfamiliar mountain pass in bad weather,” the court documents allege.

The distraught families claim that the production companies blatantly ignored safety procedures before the flight in order to save time and expenses.

Although Tom and Doug aren’t named as actual defendants in the lawsuit, the families say the crash could’ve been avoided – suggesting that Tom himself could’ve taken over flying responsibilities.

The original plane crash lawsuit was filed back in April 2017 according to People.

Tom Cruise is yet to comment on the matter, the film was released in local cinemas on 1 September 2017. (Read the review here)

Sources: people.com, dailymail.com, theblast.com

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