Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
KEY POINTS
- A small plane crashed onto Interstate 75 near Naples and collided with a vehicle Friday afternoon
- Two people out of the five passengers were killed in the crash, officials said
- The plane lost touch with the Naples airport and crashed while attempting to make an emergency landing
Two people were killed after a small plane crashed onto a Florida highway on Friday afternoon.
The private jet plane attempted to make an emergency landing after experiencing dual engine failure and then crashed onto Interstate 75 near Naples around 3:15 p.m. ET, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane with five passengers onboard collided with a vehicle, causing flames and a plume of smoke to bring traffic to a halt.
Officials confirmed two fatalities were caused due to the crash. Three passengers survived and were able to exit the plane, according to Robin King, a spokesperson for the Naples Airport.
The plane, which had departed from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, at around 12:30 p.m., had lost touch with the Naples airport, King said. She added that the plane was scheduled to travel to Fort Lauderdale.
“It was coming in for a landing,” King added. “We received word that it had possibly lost an engine … Then we lost contact.”
Witness Brianna Walker said she and her friend saw the plane just before it struck the highway.
“It’s seconds that separated us from the car in front of us,” she told AP News. “The wing pulverized this one car.”
Walker said her friend pulled over right before the crash, and she saw the plane’s wing drag the car in front of them. The plane then slammed into a wall before an explosion of flames erupted, she added.
“The plane was over our heads by inches,” Walker said. “It took a hard right and skid across the highway.”
“All of a sudden I saw a lot of black smoke,” Naples-area resident Jinny Johnson said. “It was pitch black. As I got closer, the smoke got a little lighter. And then I saw flames.”
