A single-engine plane with four people aboard crashed into a Clairemont home and burst into flames Saturday, killing two passengers and destroying the house, authorities said, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The accident occurred about 4:35 p.m. when the Beech B36 Bonanza crash-landed in the baseball field of Lafayette Elementary School and skidded into the back of a home on Chandler Drive near Mt. Abernathy Place.
Neighbors said a family with a baby are renting the house. They were not home at the time. Their two dogs perished inside the house, neighbors and authorities said.
The six-seat plane took off from Montgomery Field, a half-mile to the west, about 4:30 p.m., and shortly after the pilot radioed an engine failure, said San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Brian Fennessy. The pilot reported an attempt would be made the land back at the airport.
It appeared the pilot tried to land the plane in the open space of the schoolyard and adjacent park, the chief said. The plane hit the ground upright and traveled 100 to 200 yards, plowed through at least one fence, then smashed into the house.
Neighbors heard a loud explosion, saw flames and called 911 to report a house fire. Fennessy said firefighters didn’t know a plane had crashed until they got to the house and saw it.
The plane and back of the house were engulfed in flames by then and no rescue was possible of two people found in the aircraft, the fire chief said.
Police officers saw a man and woman walking away from the fire, toward the park. Officers realized they were crash victims and got paramedics to assist them. The pilot and a passenger were taken to a hospital with burn injuries.
The names of the four victims were not released.
No one on the ground was injured.