RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Four people died and two were injured when a small plane carrying a family returning from a cheerleading competition crashed into two Southern California homes and sparked a major fire Monday, authorities said.
A husband, wife and three teenagers were on the plane that had just taken off from Riverside Municipal Airport at 4:40 p.m. intending to return to San Jose after the weekend cheerleading event at Disneyland when it crashed in the residential neighborhood, Riverside Fire Chief Michael Moore said.
One of the teenagers, a girl, was thrown from a back seat of the plane on impact but had only minor injuries, Moore said. Three witnesses told TV stations she crawled from the home asking for help. She was able to talk to firefighters about what had happened as she was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, Moore said.
Firefighters entered one of the burning houses and pulled out an unconscious resident. That victim is in surgery at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in San Bernardino, Moore said.
Four bodies were found in the combined wreckage of the plane and the homes, but firefighters have not sorted out exactly how many were passengers and how many were residents. Moore said firefighters are looking for three to five more people who may have been in or near the homes when the plane crashed.
“It’s horrible,” Moore said, especially given that they had gone to a cheer competition and it was “supposed to be a happy time.”
Moore did not give the name of the cheerleading competition, but the Jr. USA Nationals for girls age 15 and under was held at Disney California Adventure Park over the weekend.
The two homes that were hit directly were destroyed, and there was minor damage to some neighboring houses, Moore said.
The plane was broken into hundreds of pieces, its propeller sitting on the roof of a nearby home, and the fire burning with jet fuel was still ablaze several hours after the crash. Firefighters found plane pieces about a half-mile away.
H.L. Reyes, who lives about a quarter-mile from the crash site, told The Associated Press she felt the ground shake and saw plumes of black smoke.
“I thought it was a possible earthquake, and we heard all the birds just suddenly react outside, too,” Reyes said. “This was just like a nightmare coming true.”
Shannon Flores, a teacher at an elementary school about three blocks away, said she saw the plane out her classroom window. She said it was raining during the crash, though other witnesses said the rain was very light.
“As soon as we saw it fly over, we knew it wasn’t a good thing,” Flores told KABC-TV. “We watched it go down very quickly … Before we knew it, there was a loud crash and huge plumes of smoke.”
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