Blink-182 drummer survives plane crash
Travis Barker, former drummer with Blink-182, and DJ AM are expected to make a full recovery from burns sustained in a plane crash on Friday
Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) and Travis Barker at this year's MTV Video Music Awards. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/AP
Hours after performing in front of thousands of students in South Carolina, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM were seriously injured in a Learjet crash that killed four people, including the pilot.
The plane veered off a runway in Columbia, South Carolina shortly after midnight on Friday. It crashed through antennas and a fence, over a five-lane highway, finally halting on an embankment – and bursting into flames.
Although Barker and DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, are recovering in hospital from their injuries, the plane's other four passengers died. They were Barker's assistant Chris Baker, 29, security guard Charles Still, 25, co-pilot James Bland, 52, and pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31.
Barker, 32, and Goldstein, 35, are being treated for second- and third-degree burns at a hospital in Augusta, Georgia. Barker sustained burns on his torso and lower body and Goldstein on his hands and part of his head. Neither suffered any other injuries.
While recovery from such burns can take as long as a year, both are expected to fully recover, according to medical director Dr Fred Mullins.
Even on Saturday, the area around the highway was thick with the smell of jet fuel. "It's absolutely terrible and tragic," Columbia mayor Bob Coble said in a statement.
The plane was taking the passengers back to Van Nuys, California after a free concert in Columbia that night. Barker and Goldstein had performed together under the name TRVSDJ-AM, alongside Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell and pop singer Gavin DeGraw. About 10,000 people were in attendance, according to Cobie.
The tattoo-covered Travis Barker was an integral part of Blink-182, drumming with them from 1998 until their "indefinite hiatus" in 2005. He later formed the rock band +44 and has also worked with hip-hop artists such as TI, Bun B and LL Cool J. Blink-182's most successful album, 1999's Enema of the State, sold more than 5m copies in the US alone.
As DJ AM, Goldstein is a popular DJ for hire, best known not for his music but for his celebrity romances with stars like Mandy Moore and Nicole Ritchie.
Both Barker and Goldstein played as part of the "house band" for the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month.(according google.com)
