California plane crash survivor sustains burns to 90 percent of body
RIVERSIDE, Calif.— Three people died and two were critically injured when a small plane carrying them home from a cheerleading competition slammed into two California homes and started a raging fire, authorities and witnesses said.
The twin-engine plane with five occupants crashed late Monday afternoon in a Riverside neighborhood after taking off from a nearby airport and making it less than a mile, Riverside Fire Chief Michael Moore said. It was bound for San Jose.
One of the adult survivors suffered burns on 90 percent of her body and was found under debris in a smoke-filled bedroom of a burning home, Riverside Fire Capt. Tyler Reynolds said Tuesday.
“She was moaning and that is how the firefighters found her,” he said.
Three witnesses told TV stations one survivor crawled from the home asking for help and was able to talk to firefighters about what had happened as she was taken to a hospital.
The coroner’s office removed the remains of an adult woman, adult man and a female teenager from the wreckage that was still smoldering Tuesday morning.
The impact destroyed two houses and sent plane parts flying down the block of single-family homes. One of the survivors was thrown from a back seat of the plane, and a propeller landed on a rooftop.
“It’s unrecognizable, really, as a plane,” police officer Ryan Railsback said, adding it was remarkable no one on the ground was hurt.
One of the houses hit by the plane was empty at the time and a man escaped a neighboring home without suffering injuries.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board will try to determine what occurred in the minutes after takeoff.
Juan Cortes, 42, was installing fencing with his son a few blocks away when they saw a low-flying plane make an awkward tilt and go straight down. Moments later, they said they saw smoke and knew it was a crash.
He said people were screaming in the street and he saw a woman pulled from the wreckage.
“She was alive because she was screaming, ‘My daughter! My daughter!’” Cortes said.
Flames could be seen from blocks away.
Firefighters entered one of the burning houses and pulled out another passenger, who was unconscious.
“It’s horrible,” Moore said, especially given that they had gone to a cheerleading competition and it was “supposed to be a happy time.”
Authorities have not given the ages or identities of the victims.