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Five people - including a child and four adults - were killed in a Saturday plane crash in North Carolina, a spokesperson for the National Park Service said.
The single-engine plane – crashed into the woods close to the Wright Brothers National Memorial’s First Flight Airport around 5pm, according to the National Parks Service in a press release.
No passengers on board survived the crash, authorities said. Their names have not been released.
Eyewitnesses said the airplane went down while attempting to land at the airport. Moments after the crash, a fire engulfed the plane, the service stated.
According to WTKR, the plane had been on a multi-leg flight and only just departed from the Dare County Regional Airport – a five-minute flight from where it crashed. The site of the crash is near where the Wright Brothers first took flight.
Responders from the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and others extinguished the flames.
Pam Riddick, spokesperson for Kill Devil Hills Fire Department, told The Independent: “The Kill Devil Hills Fire Department is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of the victims from the plane crash on Saturday, September 28, 2024.
“The families are in our thoughts and prayers.”
The Wright Brothers National Memorial Park in North Carolina, along with the airport will remain closed until 9am on Tuesday, authorities said.
National Transportation Safety Board aviation accident investigator Ryan Enders told Wavy TV 10 that it was during the airplane’s second attempt to land that it “made a left-turn and impacted trees adjacent to the left side of the runway.”
He added his team would be collecting any perishable evidence including “photographs, video evidence, and any data from the airplane” to enable forensics to piece together any clues for analysis.
The NTSB will be investigating the crash.
