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Butler’s plane loses cabin pressure on flight home

2016 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational - Vanderbilt v Butler

LAS VEGAS, NV - NOVEMBER 24: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Butler Bulldogs looks on as his players take on the Vanderbilt Commodores during the 2016 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 24, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Butler won 76-66. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Butler’s charter flight from New York back to Indianapolis was diverted to Pittsburgh early on Friday morning have the plane experienced “cabin pressure issues,” according to a statement released by the program.

“It started to get really cold and the plane went completely dark,” Butler head coach Chris Holtmann told ESPN.com. “Then all the oxygen masks came flying down, and the flight attendant told everyone to put the masks on. She kept repeating it.”

“We had a really rapid descent. In the span of 10 or 12 minutes, we went from 35,000 feet to 10,000 feet.”

Holtmann also told ESPN that players were crying on the flight and members of the staff were texting their families their final goodbyes.

The team spent the night in Pittsburgh and will bus back to Indianapolis today, a six-hour drive.