Frank Sojka was standing in his bedroom when the house shuddered and the ceiling of the living room collapsed in a loud crash.A small private jet had gone down short of the airport in South Bend, Ind. Sunday afternoon and plowed through three homes, killing two people on the plane and injuring three other people.
Sojka was not hurt, but he had feared something like this might happen."It was about two weeks ago when I was thinking about how we’re so close to the airport and have never had anything happen," he told the South Bend Tribune. "I’ve lived here for 55 years and nothing like this has ever happened. There was a plane a few years ago that crashed into the gravel pit at Kuert Concrete, but that’s it.”
The twin-engine Hawker Beachcraft, carrying four people, was headed toward South Bend Regional Airport when the pilot reported electrical problems shortly after 4 p.m., officials said. It briefly touched down, took off and then crashed into three homes in the 1600 block of North Iowa Street, officials said.
“It hit or grazed one house and then hit another one squarely and then embedded itself into a third house,’’ said South Bend Police Capt. Philip Trent.
The three injured people were taken to Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Trent said. “Two were in good condition and one was in serious condition,’’ he said. Identities of the dead and injured have not been released.
The neighborhood was evacuated and residents taken by the Red Cross to a shelter set up at Clay United Methodist Church.
Officials said their search for survivors was hampered by spilled jet fuel and fears that one of the homes would collapse. "We have to shore up the house even before we can get in there,” Assistant Fire Chief John Corthier said.
Neighborhood resident Kelsey Dinger said she lives a few homes from the crash site and was walking onto her front porch when the plane crashed. "You could hear little kids screaming," she said. "There were kids screaming for help."
J.P. Champer said he and his son were playing at the park, when his son looked up and said, “Daddy, I’m going to race the plane.”
Champer said he saw the jet flying low to the ground. "Then I watched it drop, I heard the crash and saw the smoke,” he said.
The jet is believed to have taken off from Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport in Tulsa, Okla. earlier Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane is owned by 7700 Enterprises of Montana, according to FAA records.
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Sojka was not hurt, but he had feared something like this might happen."It was about two weeks ago when I was thinking about how we’re so close to the airport and have never had anything happen," he told the South Bend Tribune. "I’ve lived here for 55 years and nothing like this has ever happened. There was a plane a few years ago that crashed into the gravel pit at Kuert Concrete, but that’s it.”
The twin-engine Hawker Beachcraft, carrying four people, was headed toward South Bend Regional Airport when the pilot reported electrical problems shortly after 4 p.m., officials said. It briefly touched down, took off and then crashed into three homes in the 1600 block of North Iowa Street, officials said.
“It hit or grazed one house and then hit another one squarely and then embedded itself into a third house,’’ said South Bend Police Capt. Philip Trent.
The three injured people were taken to Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Trent said. “Two were in good condition and one was in serious condition,’’ he said. Identities of the dead and injured have not been released.
The neighborhood was evacuated and residents taken by the Red Cross to a shelter set up at Clay United Methodist Church.
Officials said their search for survivors was hampered by spilled jet fuel and fears that one of the homes would collapse. "We have to shore up the house even before we can get in there,” Assistant Fire Chief John Corthier said.
Neighborhood resident Kelsey Dinger said she lives a few homes from the crash site and was walking onto her front porch when the plane crashed. "You could hear little kids screaming," she said. "There were kids screaming for help."
J.P. Champer said he and his son were playing at the park, when his son looked up and said, “Daddy, I’m going to race the plane.”
Champer said he saw the jet flying low to the ground. "Then I watched it drop, I heard the crash and saw the smoke,” he said.
The jet is believed to have taken off from Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport in Tulsa, Okla. earlier Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane is owned by 7700 Enterprises of Montana, according to FAA records.
[email protected]
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking