Plane crashes into New Hampshire building; 2 on board die

Keene (US), October 22

A small plane crashed into a building in New Hampshire, killing the two people on board and sparking a large fire on the ground, authorities said.

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, New Hampshire, on Friday evening. 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.” 

“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 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.

At a morning 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.”        

Shaughn Calkins told WMUR-TV that he saw the fire as he was driving.

“We were probably close to quarter of a mile away, and you could feel the heat from the fire,” Calkins said. “It was billowing, so it was a big fire.” AP