A small business plane crashed into a residential building near an airport in in Akron, Ohio before igniting in flames on Tuesday afternoon.
Many local residents are currently without power’
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It is believed that as many as nine people were killed
Local officials said that no one was injured inside the apartment building, and all the residents had been accounted for.
Plane crashes into Akron apartment building. https://t.co/0Lte6S1YqSpic.twitter.com/EUR1N5XrZ3
— Chris Flanagan (@ChrisFlanaganTV) November 10, 2015
BNO news reports:
The accident happened at about 3 p.m. when a twin-engine Hawker H25 business jet, which is also known as a Raytheon Hawker 800 aircraft, struck a house and crashed into a small apartment complex as it approached Akron Fulton International Airport. Police said the aircraft is believed to have clipped electrical wires before it went down, causing power outages in the vicinity.
Footage from the scene showed a residential building partially destroyed and engulfed in flames, but the blaze was quickly brought under control.
Akron police confirmed at least two people, believed to be the pilot and co-pilot, had been killed, but the death toll is expected to rise significantly. Augusto Lewkowicz, the owner and operator of the aircraft, told the Akron Beacon Journal that the plane was carrying a total of 9 people, including 2 pilots and 7 passengers. All are believed to have been killed, and recovery operations are underway.
There have been no reports of casualties on the ground, and authorities said no one was believed to have been inside the building, which has four residences.
Flight records showed that the aircraft, which was operated by Florida-based company Execuflight, had departed the Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport in Dayton about 45 minutes before the crash.
Niamh Harris