Several people feared dead after small plane crashed into a California neighbourhood before dawn on Thursday.
The Cessna 550, which had come from Kansas, slammed into the ground in San Diego’s Murphy Canyon neighbourhood, destroying homes and setting cars on fire.
“There are more than one fatality that we found so far, but we’re waiting to get the registered numbers that were on the plane itself,” said San Diego’s Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy.
At least 10 houses were burned or hit by debris, and cars on both sides of the street went up in flames when the plane crashed.
Footage of the immediate aftermath of the crash showed a line of burning fuel linking the flaming cars.
Eddy said “miraculously” no one on the ground had been killed or seriously hurt.
“When it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down, it took out every single car that was on both sides of the street,” Eddy said, adding: “We have jet fuel all over the place.”
One resident described fleeing his home in a hurry, saying: “I looked out the window and there was just flames everywhere. Then we heard the chain reaction of boom, boom, boom.”
The accident happened in thick fog when the plane was nearing the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.
Investigators are combing the area for clues, with the smell of fuel still hanging in the air hours after the crash.
“The entirety of our parking lots and other areas are completely filled. A lot of the entryways are blocked. People can’t get in or out.
‘:It’s a confusing mess,” said Zane Baker, a high school senior who lives in the area.
AFP
