Authorities said at least one person was dead and five were injured after a small plane crash crashed into two homes in Riverside, California, Monday in a residential neighborhood. At least one home was set on fire and about 30 people were evacuated from nearby homes, according to local media.
The Cessna 310 plane was traveling from Riverside to San Jose, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Pacific Division. The four people on the plane and two other victims were pulled from the house on fire, Riverside fire Capt. Tyler Reynolds.
The person who died was not immediately identified. The plane is registered to Hijazi Nouri of San Jose, according to FAA records. It was built in 1974.
“Firefighters are doing everything they can,” Reynolds said, CBS Los Angeles reported. “They’re going inside the involved structure. We have it surrounded on all four sides, along with firefighters on the roof cutting holes to get the smoke out of the structure.”
A neighbor named Ernesto who saw the explosion and rushed to the scene told CBS Los Angeles he assisted in rescuing the pilot. “It was a girl, it was a lady,” Ernesto said. “She was speaking. She said there was three others on the plane… we looked inside and couldn’t see anything, the plane was just gone. She was able to talk, she was able to walk.”
Bystander Amador Islaf, who lives nearby, told reporters he felt the ground move – “it felt like a little earthquake.”
Small plane crashes are not uncommon. More than 1,5000 general aviation accidents have left 466 people died and 384 people injured since 2015, according to data from the National Transportation Safety Board through May 17, 2016. That covers small planes, helicopters, balloons and gliders.
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