A small plane crashes in a residential neighborhood in San Diego, setting several homes on fire.
The fire, which occurred in dense fog, affected about fifteen houses within a military housing complex.
BarcelonaA Cessna 550 model light aircraft crashed this Thursday morning in the Murphy Canyon neighborhood of San Diego, California, in a residential area that houses one of the largest military housing complexes in the world. Without specifying the number, authorities have confirmed "several victims." However, all are believed to be from the group traveling in the light aircraft.
The accident occurred in dense fog. The crash caused a fire that affected at least 15 homes and some vehicles in the area. According to the city's fire department, the first emergency calls were received at 3:47 a.m., and emergency units arrived on the scene six minutes later.
Despite the swift response, the fire had already spread rapidly, fueled by the aircraft's fuel, according to eyewitnesses reported by local media and television. "There's fuel everywhere," warned Dan Eddy, assistant fire chief, during a briefing. "The goal now is to search all the affected homes and get people to safety."
The Cessna 550 can carry six to eight passengers, plus two crew members. Police have evacuated three nearby streets—carrying about 100 people—closed a highway, and suspended two schools. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the cause of the crash.
More recent tragedies
This is the fifth major plane crash in the United States in recent months. In April, a small plane crashed into an apartment building in Clearwater, Florida, killing four. In February, an aircraft crashed in rural Alabama, killing two. In January, a training flight crashed near Napa Airport, California, killing three.
That same April, Five Catalan tourists—a couple and their three children—died in a helicopter crash in New York. while flying over the Hudson River. The pilot of the aircraft, from the New York Helicopter Tours company, was the sixth victim of the accident.
The most serious case in terms of the number of victims occurred on January 29, when A UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter collided mid-air with an American Airlines commercial jetliner. over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. All 67 people on board both aircraft were killed. According to preliminary investigations, the Black Hawk was flying at an unauthorized altitude and without an ADS-B system, and there were communication errors with the control tower. The FAA imposed new restrictions on the affected airspace.
