RIVERSIDE, Calif. -Authorities say three people are dead and two are injured after a small plane crashed into two homes and sparked a huge fire in Southern California.
Moore says one of the teenagers, a girl, was thrown from the plane on impact and had only minor injuries. She was able to talk to firefighters about what had happened as she was taken to a hospital.
An unconscious victim from one of the homes is in surgery.
Three bodies have been found in the wreckage, but firefighters have not sorted out exactly how many were from the plane and how many from the homes. They are looking for additional possible victims in the wreckage.
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The Cessna 310 aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Riverside Municipal Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. The plane was headed for San Jose when it crashed about a half-mile northeast of the Riverside airport.
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The plane came down into a residential neighbourhood and collided with two homes, Riverside Police Lt. Charles Payne said.
At least one of the homes was engulfed in flames and nearly destroyed. The plane’s propeller appeared to be left sitting on the roof of a nearby home.
Three witnesses told TV stations that a woman crawled from one of the houses with her clothes on fire, saying as neighbours helped her that she was the pilot and that more people were inside.
Shannon Flores, a teacher at an elementary school about three blocks away, said she saw the plane out her classroom window shortly before 5 p.m. She said it was raining during the crash.
“As soon as we saw it fly over, we knew it wasn’t a good thing,” Flores told KABC-TV. “We watched it go down very quickly …. Before we knew it, there was a loud crash and huge plumes of smoke.”
H.L. Reyes, who lives about a quarter-mile from the crash site, said she felt the ground shake and saw plumes of black smoke.
“I thought it was a possible earthquake, and we heard all the birds just suddenly react outside, too,” Reyes said. “Every time an engine sputters, I’m afraid … This was just like a nightmare coming true.”