‘9 killed’ as jet crashes into residential buildings in US

A business jet crashed into two residential buildings in Akron, the fifth largest city in the US state of Ohio, on Tuesday, killing about nine persons.

Ohio state highway patrol officially confirmed that the pilot and co-pilot as well as an unknown number of passengers were killed in the fiery crash.

However, unnamed police sources at the site of the crash told local media that a total of nine people were dead.

Bill Haymaker, spokesman of the highway patrol,  said the 10-passenger plane was “intact but burnt.”

Lisa Kohler, summit county medical examiner,  told reporters she was implementing a “mass casualty plan” for the morning, when it is light.

Haymaker added that the plane struck a residential building at about 3 pm (2000 GMT), engulfing it in flames.

The plane then hit an embankment and another residential building, according to him.

“No one was at home in either building at the time of the crash, and there were no other injuries reported on the ground,” Haymaker said.

Tony Molinaro, spokesman of the federal aviation administration, said the accident involved a Hawker H25 business jet, and that the national transportation safety board will be in charge of the investigation.

The jet had been approaching the Akron Fulton Airport, Molinaro said.

Akron-based utility FirstEnergy Corp (FE.N) said the crash caused a power outage for 1,500 customers around the airport.

“It appears that the plane clipped a couple of lines,” said Mark Durbin, a FirstEnergy spokesman.

The owner of the plane, Augusto Lewkowicz of ExecuFlight, did not immediately respond to calls for comment and the website for the business is down.

Leon Henderson, a fire lieutenant with the Akron fire department, had earlier told TIME that the pilot and co-pilot could be the only persons killed in the accident.

Hederson said he was not sure if anyone was in the building when the incident occurred, but said the fire which broke out during the accident had “been fully extinguished”.

“The plane was coming down for a landing, it must have lost control or something happened,” he had said.