KEENE, N.H. — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is scheduled to hold a press conference Sunday afternoon after a small plane crashed into an apartment building in New Hampshire Friday night, killing the two people on board and sparking a large fire.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Saturday that a single-engine Beechcraft Sierra aircraft crashed into a building north of Keene Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene on Friday. City officials said on their Facebook page that no one was injured in the building hit by the plane but “those on the plane have perished.”
More details are expected to be released during a press conference at 1 p.m. on Sunday near the site of the crash.
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates,” the FAA said.
Keene Mayor George Hansel told The Associated Press that two people on the plane died but that they have not been identified. He said the the plane hit a two-story barn connected to a multi-family apartment building. All eight people were evacuated from the apartment building due to the subsequent fire.
The two-story building sustained significant damage to an estimated 20% of the rear of the structure, and it will remain uninhabited until it can be further assessed. The eight people who live in the building are currently displaced.
At a Saturday press conference, Hansel said the plane was owned by Monadnock Aviation, which is based at the airport. He said it was unclear where the plane was headed and no one answered the phone at Monadnock.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation and the operations at the airport were not affected, he said.
“We are very fortunate in some ways that the plane didn’t hit a part of the building where people were,” Hansel said. “This obviously could have been much worse but any loss of life is a tragedy.”
Nathaniel Stiles is the youth pastor at Hope Chapel. The plane crashed just 30 feet away from the church. Overcome by emotion, Stiles said the fellowship hall was full of children taking part in a youth group chapel service at the time of the crash.
“We are so thankful to God for getting every child and every person out of there alive,” Stiles said.
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