FIVE PEOPLE HAVE died after a small plane crashed into a home in California last night after reportedly falling apart.
The crash ignited a house fire before landing in a backyard. The male pilot, who was the only person in the twin-engine plane, and four people in the Yorba Linda house that caught fire died yesterday, Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Cory Martino said at a news conference last night.
Martino said that the deceased occupants of the home were two males and two females. The victims have yet to be named.
The Cessna 414A took off from the Fullerton Municipal Airport about a dozen miles west of the blaze, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer has said.
The two-story house caught fire after being struck by the main cabin and one engine of the plane. The second engine dislodged and fell onto the street, creating a large hole in the asphalt, according to Eliott Simpson, an aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
“It was a boom. It sounded like something exploded. It shook our house,” local resident John Wolbart told US media.
Wolbart said that he ran to the burning house and saw a woman come out with singed hair.
The wounded were taken to a hospital with burn injuries, said Pokey Sanchez, an assistant chief with the Orange County Fire Authority. A firefighter was also treated for a minor injury.
Clint Langford, who lives about a half-mile away, said he was in his living room when he heard a low rumbling.
“It’s the eerie, low rumbling sound that keeps getting lower and louder. It was scary,” he said. “And then all of a sudden boom. It shook the house.”
He looked out his front door and could see parts of the small aircraft fall out of the sky.
Aerial footage taken from news helicopters show aircraft parts, including side panels and a propeller, scattered on rooftops and driveways near the burned house.
The main body of the twin-engine plane was found in the backyard of another home not far from the burned house. The fire spread to a SUV that was parked in the driveway.
The National Transportation and Safety Board has said that it will investigate the cause of the crash.
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