A small plane with six on board crashed in a residential section of a city in Utah on Saturday afternoon, sending a fireball hundreds of feet into the air, an official said.
The official, officer Jennifer Worthen, a spokeswoman for the West Jordan Police Department, said the accident caused “multiple injuries and possible victims,” but gave no details at a press conference.
She said the plane crashed into the backyards of two houses and damaged three houses in West Jordan, which is about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City. Authorities responded to a call from the accident around 1:40 pm local time.
A person who was in one of the houses at the time was injured, Officer Worthen said. Several people were transferred to nearby hospitals.
It was unclear how many people were in the houses at the time of the accident.
The plane took off from the South Valley Regional Airport in Salt Lake City, which is less than five miles from the crash site.
“This community came together pretty well to try to help people get out of the houses and off the plane,” he said. “It was a joint effort. The calls came very quickly regarding the accident. ”
Terry Robinson, 68, called 911 after she and her family first heard and then saw the accident.
“It’s scary,” said Mrs. Robinson. “We have been in the neighborhood for a long time, so we know a lot of people.”
A fireball rose in the backyard, he said.
“It was red, hot,” he continued. “You could see the fire in the air and then it was just black smoke.”
The plane was a Piper PA-32 model, said Allen Kenitzer, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, he said.
