MUMBAI, June 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A small plane crashed into a
construction site in a densely populated part of India’s financial capital
Mumbai on Thursday, killing five people including one on the ground,
officials said.
Images broadcast on Indian news channels showed flames and black smoke
billowing from the area, which sits right next to several high-rise
residential towers.
There were four people on the 12-seater aircraft, disaster management
officials said, with witnesses reporting hearing a loud blast as it smashed
into a half-built structure.
“There was a huge explosion and the adjacent tree caught fire and the fire
spilled on the streets,” a man was quoted as saying on the NDTV news channel.
“Initially we assumed an electric box in the under-construction building
must have caught fire but when we checked out the spot, we found the charred
body of a man who apparently was on bike when the plane crashed,” he added.
A woman, who was also not named, reported hearing three loud explosions and
described seeing a “major fire”.
Video footage posted online showed bright orange flames licking the side of
a building next to a construction site.
Other images shot after the fire was put out showed firemen sifting through
the twisted wreckage of the twin-prop plane as crowds looked on.
The white tailfin seemed to be the only recognisable part of the aircraft
not consumed in the blaze.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the plane was a
turbo-prop King Air C-90 and had been on a test flight from the nearby Juhu
airstrip.
“There were two pilots and two aircraft maintenance engineers on board. All
on board (the) aircraft along with one person on ground are dead,” the DGCA
statement read.
– ‘Completely charred’ –
A medical officer at Rajawadi hospital, where the victims were taken, said
the dead included three men and two women.
“There bodies were completely charred due to the fire,” she told AFP,
adding that two injured had also been admitted and were in a stable
condition.
It was not raining at the time of the accident and weather did not appear
to have been a factor in the crash.
DGCA said it was sending a team to investigate the cause, adding that the
aircraft was owned by a private operator who had purchased it from the Uttar
Pradesh state government.
P Rahangdale, Mumbai’s chief fire officer, said several fire engines had
rushed to the spot.
India’s National Disaster Response Force said it was also sending a team to
make sure no there were no injured trapped under any rubble at the crash
site.
Former Indian Aviation Minister Praful Patel tweeted his condolences and
praised the pilot for the guiding the plane into an open area.
“Salute to the pilot who showed presence of mind to avoid a big mishap,
saving many lives at the cost of her own life,” he wrote.
There have been several crashes involving small planes in India in recent
years.
In 2015 a light aircraft belonging to India’s paramilitary border force
crashed after taking off from New Delhi airport, killing 10 people on board.
Ten people were killed in 2011 after an air ambulance crashed into a
residential area in Faridabad, near the capital. Seven people on board and
three on the ground were killed.
The last deadly air crash involving a commercial plane happened in 2010
when an Air India Boeing 737-800 over shot the runway while landing at
Mangalore airport in southern India.
At least 158 passengers were killed and nearly a dozen others survived the
crash.