Nine dead in small plane crash near Trump's Florida home
Deadly plane crash leaves nine dead near Palm Beach County neighborhood
Nine people were killed Sunday when the Learjet they were traveling in plummeted into a neighborhood in southern Florida, just miles from US President Donald Trump's resort home of Mar-a-Lago, officials said.
Several unverified clips depicting the deadly crash and posted to social media show an aircraft nearly vertical slamming at high speed into the ground and triggering a large fireball, leaving a flaming crater near a busy roadside.
"Today's plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida is a horrific tragedy," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement, confirming that all nine people on board were killed.
QUICK TAKE: The private jet, Learjet 60, that went down just miles from Mar-a-Lago had 9 people on board, according to the FAA. The plane crashed in a residential area near Cresthaven, Florida. The aircraft had departed from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was on its way to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas when it crashed. According to the New York Post, the plane took a "sharp right turn" before nosediving into the ground from about 8,000 feet. The plane is a $2 million Learjet 60, according to the Post. Witnesses on the ground say the crash "sounded like a missile".
The crash occurred near Cresthaven, a neighbourhood in Palm Beach County that is less than seven miles (11 kilometers) from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump himself had been at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday and had departed from the nearby and newly renamed President Donald J Trump International Airport shortly after he boarded Air Force One at 11:55 am, about an hour before the crash of the Learjet aircraft.
FAA, NTSB probe
Storms had been reported in the area, and Trump carried an umbrella as he boarded Air Force One.
"The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate," the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
