Small plane slams into San Diego house, killing two passengers
Two passengers were killed when a small plane crashed into a house in San Diego, authorities said.
The crash occurred shortly before 5pm on Saturday in the city’s Clairemont neighbourhood, a few kilometres north of downtown, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. The pilot and the third passenger aboard the aircraft were taken to hospital with burn injuries, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Nobody was in the house, but the occupants’ dog was killed, according to media reports.
Fennessy told reporters that the pilot tried to land the plane on a schoolyard and an adjacent park behind the house. It landed upright and skidded at least 100 metres before hitting a fence and crashing into the back of the home, the Union-Tribune reported.
Authorities said the plane and the house immediately caught fire.
Authorities have not released the names of the pilot and the passengers, including the two who were killed. No other injuries were reported.
Neighbours reported hearing a loud explosion and immediately seeing flames. Some tried to get inside the locked home by breaking windows and began hosing down the flames before firefighters arrived, the Union-Tribune reported.
“It could easily have been our house,” neighbour Roula Bejjani told the paper.
It is not known why the engine failed on the aircraft, a six-seat Beech BE36 Bonanza. An investigation is continuing.
