Five killed in Mumbai chartered plane crash

Five people were killed when a small chartered plane hit a partially-constructed building in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar (west) on Thursday. Two pilots, two engineers on board and a pedestrian died in the crash, said aviation regulator DGCA in a statement.

Their bodies were charred. The pilot and co-pilot have been identified as Captain PS Rajput and Captain Marya Zuberi.

Preliminary reports said the KING AIR C90 plane crashed near Sarvoday Nagar while on a test flight from Juhu aerodrome.

“The plane hit a man walking on the road. The plane was leaking fuel as it crashed. It caught fire before people could do anything,” said Babasaheb Umap, who lives nearby.

Five fire tenders and disaster management teams were at the spot of the crash, authorities said, adding that the fire was doused. “We received an information of plane crash and our teams were dispatched,” said Lakhmi Gautam, additional commissioner, east region. The Uttar Pradesh government said it had sold the aircraft to a private company UY Aviation in 2014.

Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabu expressed “deep shock” at the crash and ordered Directorate General of Civil Aviation to probe the crash.

Meanwhile, the residents of Ghatkopar (west) said they saw the plane coming down and were scared it would crash into their buildings. Anant Kandhor, a businessman who lives nearby, said he suspected something was amiss when he saw the plane flying considerably lower than other aircraft. “It went past my balcony, and it was so close I thought it would crash into my building,” he added.

Another resident Haribhai Patel said, “The plane circled low over our locality and then crashed into the barricades around the construction site.

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