Pilot in plane crash near Las Cruces has died

The pilot of T-28 vintage Navy plane that crashed last week near the Las Cruces International Airport has died.

New Mexico State Police say 64-year-old David Tokoph of El Paso, Texas died Tuesday night of injuries suffered in last Friday morning’s crash.

Tokoph had been hospitalized at University Medical Center in El Paso.

Police say the passenger has been identified as Angelo Edgard Cossi Sedjiro, from France.

They say he was transported to Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces for treatment after the crash and his condition wasn’t immediately available Wednesday.

The plane went down near Interstate 10 about one quarter mile east of the Las Cruces airport.

Police say the cause of the crash remains unknown and is being investigated by Federal Aviation Administration.

ABC-7 interviewed Tokoph back in 2009 when he broke a flying record.

He was part of a group of El Pasoans who traveled non-stop between Russia and El Paso – a journey of more than 5,400 miles.

“It is good for El Paso because as El Pasoans we naturally want to come to our hometown and we brought the only airplane to come non-stop from Russia – to our knowledge – in the history of aviation,” Tokoph told ABC-7 in 2009 after landing in El Paso.