8 killed when plane crashes into building in Italy

ROME – A small, single-engine plane carrying six passengers and a crew of two crashed Sunday into a vacant two-story office building in a Milan suburb. Authorities said all eight people aboard died.

Investigators opened a probe into what caused the private plane to crash shortly after takeoff from Milan’s Linate Airport en route to Olbia Airport on the Italian island of Sardinia. A thick column of dark smoke rose from the crash site and was visible for miles.

Firefighters tweeted that no one else but those on board were involved in the early afternoon crash near a subway station in San Donato Milanese, a small town near Milan.

Milan Prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano told reporters at the scene that the plane was proceeding on its flight until “a certain point, then an anomaly appeared on the radar screen and it plunged,” striking the building’s roof.

Control tower officials reported the anomaly, she said, but further details on that weren’t immediately given.

The prosecutor said the plane didn’t send out any alarm. It was too early to cite any possible cause for the crash, Siciliano said, adding that the flight recorder has been retrieved.

By early evening, only two of the eight dead had been identified, since they carried documents on them, Siciliano said. Those aboard were “all foreigners,” she said, including the pilot, who was Romanian. The aircraft was registered in Romania, she added.

Italian news reports said the pilot, 30, also had German citizenship. The second person identified was a Romanian woman in her 60s who also held French citizenship, the reports said.

The reports said the aircraft had flown from Bucharest, Romania, to Milan on Sept. 30 with no apparent issues.

The Italian news agency ANSA quoted the national air safety agency ANSV as saying “the plane hit the building and started burning.” It said the aircraft was a PC-12, a single- engine, executive-type plane.

Fire officials said earlier that the aircraft had crashed into the building’s facade. But following further inspection, the prosecutor said it was apparent that the plane had struck the roof.

Firefighters extinguished the flames at the badly charred and gutted building, which reportedly was under renovation.

CLAUDIO FURLAN/LAPRESSE VIA AP Firefighters work on the site of a plane crash in San Donato Milanese, Italy, a suburb of Milan. According to media reports, a small plane carrying six passengers and two crew members crashed into the building, which was under renovation. All eight aboard the plane were killed.