Multiple people died on a small plane that crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday, officials say, as roughly 100 people have been evacuated from homes near the crash site.
A small Cessna 550 carrying an unknown number of passengers crashed into the Murphy Canyon neighborhood around 3:47 a.m., and authorities are investigating whether the aircraft collided with a power line.
"All the fatalities look to be the ones from the plane," Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy said before confirming there were “multiple fatalities.”
The names of the people on the plane have not been released. Officials have not said what led to the crash.
No one on the ground was injured, but about 15 homes and cars were left in flames following the crash, authorities said.
The disaster, which occurred during foggy weather, prompted the evacuation of a stretch of homes within the neighborhood, which mainly serves military service members.
“When it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down it took out every single car that was on both sides of the street,” Eddy said. “You can see that every singe car was burning down both sides of the street.”
There was a “direct hit to multiple homes,” Eddy said, describing “a gigantic debris field” in an area of densely populated homes.
Eddy also noted it was very foggy at the time the plane crashed, telling reporters, “You could barely see in front of you.” Authorities have not yet determined if the weather played a role in the crash.
City officials lauded the emergency response to the crash, with San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl saying “close to 100 people” were displaced due to the sheer amount of spilled jet fuel and overall destruction.
It was not immediately known how many people were on the plane, however, authorities said the Cessna 550 can hold between eight and 10 passengers.
The flight had been coming from the Midwest, authorities said. According to the flight tracking site Flight Aware, the plane was supposed to arrive at the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive airport in San Diego at 3:47 a.m., coming in from the small Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
With Associated Press contributions.
