Nine dead in fiery Hawaiian plane crash
- There were no survivors after the twin-engined King Air plane used for skydiving crashed on Friday night
- Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves said it was the ‘most tragic aircraft incident’ he had seen in his 40 years as a firefighter
Nine people died in a fiery crash of a small aeroplane used for skydiving, officials in Hawaii said.
There were no survivors after the twin-engined King Air plane crashed on Friday night near Dillingham Airfield, on Oahu’s North Shore, Hawaii Department of Transportation spokesman Tim Sakahara said.
“Upon arrival, we saw the plane fully engulfed in fire,” Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves told reporters on the scene. “The first crews on scene extinguished the fire.”
Neves said the crashed occurred soon after take-off near the perimeter fencing of the small airport. “They’re quite a ways away from the runway,” he said.
The plane was used for skydiving, and Neves said some family members of those on board had been waiting at the airport for the plane to return.
The debris field was relatively small, about 15 metres by 15 metres, he said.
