At least four dead as plane crashes in to Connecticut houses
A small plane crashed in a working-class neighbourhood near an airport on Friday and engulfed two houses in flames, likely killing four to six people, authorities said.
Fire and rescue personnel surround the site of a plane crash in East Haven Photo: REUTERS
AP
2:49AM BST 10 Aug 2013
The multi-engine, propeller-driven plane struck the small homes a few blocks from Tweed New Haven Airport as it went in for a landing.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Robert Gretz said on Friday night there were casualty reports of two or three people in the plane and two or three on the ground. He said local and state authorities were at the scene looking for victims.
Soon after the crash, officials had said at least three people were missing: the pilot and two children, ages 1 and 13, in one of the houses. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy later said the plane also may have been carrying two passengers but officials were still trying to verify whether that was true.
East Haven Fire Chief Douglas Jackson said Friday afternoon: "We haven't recovered anybody at this point, and we presume there is going to be a very bad outcome."
Less than two hours later, Malloy said rescuers had spotted two bodies, including one of an adult, but hadn't recovered them. The plane's fuselage had entered one of the houses, and the recovery effort was focusing on the home's basement, he said.
Mayor Joseph Maturo said later that the houses were still unstable and crews had not completed a full search.
The plane, a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B, flew out of Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and crashed at 11:25am, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Tweed's airport manager, Lori Hoffman-Soares, said the pilot had been in communication with air traffic control and hadn't issued any distress calls.
"All we know is that it missed the approach and continued on," she said.
A neighbour, David Esposito, said he heard a loud noise and then a thump: "No engine noise, nothing."
"A woman was screaming her kids were in there," he said.
Esposito, a retired teacher, said he ran into the upstairs of the house, where the woman believed her children were, but couldn't find them after frantically searching a crib and closets. He returned downstairs to search some more, but he dragged the woman out when the flames became too strong.
Edited by Steve Wilson
