On Thursday evening, a small plane crashed into a mobile home park in Clearwater, Florida, resulting in a fiery accident that claimed the lives of three individuals. A preliminary report published Friday morning provided initial details of the tragic incident.
At 7:27 p.m. ET on Thursday, a tragic plane crash occurred in Clearwater, Florida, claiming three lives, including one member of the flight crew and two individuals inside the home, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s report.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reported that the aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances into a mobile home park, resulting in a post-crash fire. According to the FAA, the only occupant in the plane was the pilot.
Earlier Thursday night, at least nine individuals were present inside the mobile home, but by the time of the crash, only two individuals remained, according to a news release from the Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department.
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During a news briefing on Thursday, Fire Chief Scott Ehlers stated that firefighters were dispatched to the crash site at the Bayside Waters mobile home park. Upon arrival, they discovered that four trailer homes were engulfed in flames, one of which contained the crashed plane, according to Ehlers.
Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy expressed condolences to the families of the three victims, emphasizing that the tragedy could have been even more devastating.
He made this statement while crews were still working to extinguish hot spots and recover the bodies of the deceased, according to Fire Chief Scott Ehlers, who mentioned that the plane was primarily located within one mobile home.
Clearwater resident Steven Ascari recounted hearing what resembled an explosion Thursday evening, causing vibrations in his apartment. “And next thing you know, a giant pillar of smoke was seen,” he conveyed in a message to CNN.
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Officials received a call reporting a fire at the mobile home park simultaneously with a report of a plane experiencing an emergency at an airport, Fire Chief Scott Ehlers disclosed Thursday. The plane eventually went off radar approximately 3 miles north of a runway, coinciding with the location of the mobile home park.
The aircraft, identified as a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35, plunged into the residential area following the pilot’s report of an engine failure, confirmed an FAA spokesperson to CNN. The plane had departed earlier on Thursday from Vero Beach, according to officials.
Recordings from LiveATC.net captured the pilot’s distress call moments before the crash, stating, “I’m losing engine.” Following the impact, unidentified pilots on air traffic control channels reported, “They just hit the ground really hard with the plane,” and “They’re in flames.” Another voice remarked, “It looks like they went into a house.”
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An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived on Friday morning to document the crash scene and inspect the aircraft. The NTSB stated that the plane would be transported to a secure facility for further evaluation.
Clearwater fire officials stated that the National Transportation Safety Board intends to remove the wreckage on Saturday, with police maintaining presence at the scene. According to the fire chief, the other mobile homes affected by the blaze have been cleared, with no reported victims found there as of Thursday night.
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