Producers of Tom Cruise's Mena sued for wrongful death after plane crash

Last September, American film pilot Alan Purwin and Carlos Berl of Colombian were killed when a plane used for the Tom Cruise film Mena crashed in Colombia. Now his widow, Kathryn Purwin, has filed a wrongful death suit against producers on the project.

According to court documents obtained by EW, Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Vendian Entertainment, and Quadrant Pictures are named as the defendants.

The complaint claims the defendants “knew that the Accident Aircraft would be flown over rugged, mountainous terrain and in the Republic of Colombia, and yet failed to ensure that Carlos Berl was competent, qualified, rested and sufficiently informed for the flight.”

Purwin and her children, Kyle and Michaela, are also suing Berl’s estate. The suit further states that because Berl was “not a member of the cast or crew,” the producers were “in violation of production companies’ rules pertaining to closed sets.”  

Mena producers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Directed by Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman, Mena sees the actor as a pilot recruited by the C.I.A. to bring down infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. Jimmy Lee Garland, a pilot from Georgia, was also injured and rushed to the hospital following the crash.

Also featuring Jesse Plemons and Domhnall Gleeson, Mena is scheduled for release on Jan. 6, 2017.