Two people were killed after a small plane that was bringing hurricane relief supplies to Jamaica crashed in a lake in a Coral Springs neighborhood on Monday morning, officials said.
The crash happened just before 10:20 a.m. in the Windsor Bay community near the 5000 block of Northwest 57th Way, just west of State Road 7 and south of the Sawgrass Expressway.
Coral Springs Fire Rescue officials said they responded and a dive team performed a preliminary operation but didn’t find any victims at first.
“We do have our police department here with their divers as well, they’ll be conducting a recovery mission shortly, we were unable to find any victims or any large pieces of fuselage on our initial dive,” Coral Springs Deputy Fire Chief Mike Moser said. “We have not found an entire plane yet, we believe that it may be broken into smaller pieces, we don’t know yet of course, this is very preliminary.”
Coral Springs Police later confirmed that two people were killed. Their identities haven’t been released.
No one on the ground was injured, Moser added.
Officials with the City of Fort Lauderdale said the plane, a Beechcraft King Air, had left Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and was en route to Montego Bay in Jamaica to assist in Hurricane Melissa relief efforts when it crashed.
Aerial footage from Chopper 6 showed the plane appeared to have clipped some trees and taken out part of a home’s backyard fence before crashing into a small lake.
One of the plane’s wheels could be seen next to a pool in the backyard as first responders were working at the scene.
“Fortunately the plane did not strike any houses when it entered the water,” Moser said.
Moser said they’re working with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to investigate.
He added that the debris field was “pretty large” and asked anyone in the area who may have found debris in their yard to contact authorities.
Police said there would be a significant police presence in the area throughout Monday and into Tuesday as investigators collect evidence.
They also said that residents may notice a strong odor of fuel and it may take some time for it to dissipate.
“The city strongly recommends residents in the area to avoid being outdoors and keep doors closed for the remainder of the night,” a statement read.
One witness, David Ubegi, saw the crash and the disturbing aftermath.
“We heard a big explosion, when we saw all the water rise up in the air we ran towards it to see what happened,” he said. “We saw all the parts of the plane and some body parts along sides of the houses and when the police arrived we helped them look for the body parts.”
Witness Zane Smith said he was nearby and believed the plane went right over him.
“It was honestly crazy, it shook me up. I came over here as fast as possible and first responders were already on scene,” Smith said.
No other information was immediately known.
Check back with NBC6 for updates.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
