3 killed as plane hits California homes
RIVERSIDE, Feb 28: Three people were killed and two injured Monday when a small plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in Riverside, California, said the city’s Fire Chief Michael Moore.
Previously, he had said that four people had died when the plane crashed near Riverside Municipal Airport. After further investigation, Moore announced late Monday in a news conference that the death toll was now three.
A Cessna 310 crashed about a half-mile northeast of the Riverside Municipal Airport, according to Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. It had departed from Riverside en route to San Jose.
The plane had five people on board, and split apart when it hit two Riverside homes, Moore said.
There were no victims on the ground or inside the homes, the fire chief said. But he added that they would do a secondary check Tuesday morning.
Of the five people on the plane, three had died and two were injured, the fire chief said.
One of the passengers was taken to the Riverside Community Hospital and another to the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, Moore said. Both are women, he said, correcting previous information that one of the survivors had been a teenager.
Earlier in the evening, Moore had said that they believed one of the victims had been a resident. In a later press conference, he said it appeared that the people on the plane “were injected into the house” when the plane hit.
Moore said the pilot did not appear to be among the survivors.
The National Transportation Safety Board will continue their investigation in the morning, Moore said.AGENCIES