PLANE CRASHED ON WAY TO CITY MATCH
THE three passengers on board a light aircraft which plunged on to a road and caught fire were football fans flying to a Cardiff City match.
Jack Moore, 19, and sister Billie Manley, 16, were flying to watch the Bluebirds play Manchester United with their uncle Stuart Moore, who was piloting the plane, when the crash happened.
The plane struck overhead power lines and then burst into flames after attempting an emergency landing on the A40 in Abergavenny.
Football fan Jack said: “Absolutely unbelievable that me and my family have walked away from this, just want to say thank you to the passersby that helped us at the scene and also the emergency services.”
The trio were pulled from the wreckage by two heroic bystanders before the plane, which managed to avoid cars, was completely engulfed in flames.
Jack added: “Thanks everyone for the messages, really appreciate it, not quite up to replying to everyone at the moment – we are very lucky people.”
Pilot Stuart had taken off from Abergavenny Airfield on Sunday morning en route to Manchester for the final game of the Premier League season, which Cardiff won 2-0.
Passersby Joel Snarr, 35, and Daniel Nicholson, 46, pulled the passengers from the “inferno”.
Daniel, who was the first person to reach the scene, smashed the plane’s windows during the frantic rescue.
He witnessed the aircraft plummet to the ground in front of him just after 11am.
“The plane came from nowhere. If it had been two seconds later, it would have hit us,” said Daniel.
“It literally burst into flames in front of me and it had landed upside down.
“I screeched to a halt, and didn’t hesitate – I could see there were people in there.
“I could see a young girl from my side, as there was no fire my side, and I knew I could get access.
“She was terrified, screaming because she could see the fire.
“I initially tried to smash the front window of the plane, but I couldn’t.
“Then I noticed a crack in the back and began kicking it.
“She was kicking from the inside, helping, and eventually I was able to drag her out and a boy who looked to be a sibling, they seemed a similar age, around 19-20.”
Daniel was assisted by Joel, from the other side of the dual carriageway, as they struggled to pull the pilot out.
Joel, an ex-bomb disposal sergeant who was medically discharged with PTSD this year, was in the car with his wife when the aircraft came down.
He told the BBC: “There was someone from the other side of the dual carriageway, trying to kick the window through.
“I grabbed the lady by the belt and pulled her out.
“The pilot then put out his hands and I heaved him out.”
He added: “We got them away from the plane, which was getting hotter and hotter.”
Daniel continued: “I thought the pilot might have been the two passengers’ dad but I wasn’t sure – Joel pulled him out, but by then the plane was completely engulfed.
“I ran to my son who was waiting in the car, reversed as the flames were increasing.
“It only took the fire engines 10-15 minutes to get there, but it was all so blurred. It happened so quickly but I’m glad we got them out.”
Witness Harrison Francis-Fletcher, 18, who lives yards from the scene, described the plane as a pile of “melted metal” left on the road.
He said: “The wooden post holding the power lines was broken in half.
“The plane was a pile of melted metal and left crushed up on the road. The only way you could tell it’s a plane is the two wheels sticking out of it.”
The fire service requested that all trains be stopped in the area due to the plane hitting the overhead power cables.
A spokeswoman for the Welsh Ambulance Service said two people had been taken to hospital with “minor injuries”.
They were taken to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny by ambulance.
Gwent Police said in a statement: “The aircraft was reported to have made an unscheduled landing in the area, colliding with overhead wiring.
“Three occupants of the light aircraft were treated by paramedics at the scene. Their injuries are not lifethreatening.”