A small private jet crash occurred near Milan, Italy. The plane hit a vacant building that was under construction. All eight people on board are dead.
The following written content from Chiara Fiorillo & Ryan Merrifield
A private passenger plane crashed into an office building killing everyone on board, in a horrifying incident near Milan this afternoon.
Eight people, including a child, died as the small aircraft erupted into a fireball on collision outside a metro station in San Donato Milanese on Sunday.
The Pilatus PC-12 flight had taken off from Linate city airport in Italy’s fashion capital and was heading for the island of Sardinia, officials have said.
The aircraft is a single-engine, turboprop business aircraft, which can also be used for carrying cargo or up to nine passengers.
It is not yet clear what caused the crash.
Witnesses described seeing multiple parked cars go up in flames as plumes of smoke shot into the sky following the impact at around 1pm local time.
Photos show debris scattered across the scene in the small town.
The victims are understood to have been six French tourists, a Romanian pilot and another crew member. Read more from Mirror
The following written content from BBC
The plane took off from Milan’s Linate airport and was heading for the island of Sardinia, but it came down soon after on the outskirts of the city.
Witnesses described hearing a loud blast as it struck a two-storey office block and burst into flames.
One of those killed in the incident was a young boy, local media reported.
A thick column of smoke was seen rising in the air, though no one on the ground was reported injured.
“I heard the sound of a plane above me as if the plane was shutting down its engine,” local man Giuseppe told Reuters news agency.
“Then I heard a very loud explosion, the windows of our house started to shake so I opened the window and saw a huge cloud of smoke rising into the sky,” he added.
Rai state TV reported that the passengers were French, although this has not been confirmed by officials.
Several empty parked cars caught fire after the crash near a metro station in San Donato Milanese, emergency workers said.
Firefighters worked to extinguish the flames rising from the building. Read more from BBC
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