KEENE, N.H. (WHDH) - Two pilots were killed in a plane crash in Keene, New Hampshire, officials said Saturday.
At 7 p.m. Friday, the plane crashed into a large garage and storage area attached to an apartment building. As the flames broke out, people inside the building evacuated.
“Heard a bang, sounded like, at first I thought someone had hit the building,” Scott Gauthier, who lives in the building said. “Then I thought it sounded like someone hitting the back parking lot, and my mom went outside to check, and she started screaming, ‘get out of the house! Get out of the house!’ As soon as I came out, it was maybe a minute after that, and the whole roof was on fire.”
City officials provided more details and expressed grievances Saturday.
“I want to first and foremost express the city of Keene’s sympathies to the family members of those who passed away,” Keene Mayor George Hansel said. “The crash occurred right after departure from the Dillant-Hopkins airport, shortly after departure. There were two people were on board, the aircraft was owned by Monadnock Aviation.
Firefighters had taken two hours to put the flames out. While no one was hurt in the fire, the former inhabitants of building are left looking for a place to live.
At the time of the crash, officials said, the nearby church’s fellowship hall had been full of children attending youth group, and said they were glad the incident wasn’t worse than it had been.
“We are very fortunate,” Hansel said. “I mean the fact that it hit a building where people were living, and none of those people were injured, is an important detail and we’re very lucky.”
The Federal Aviation Association and the National Transportation Safety Board are leading the investigation, which police were also continuing Saturday at the scene of the crash.
The NTSB said their investigation will focus on documenting perishable evidence of the crash.
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