Small Plane Carrying 5 People Crashes in Pennsylvania, USA

Injured Transported to Nearby Hospital
Extent of Injuries Unconfirmed

A small aircraft carrying five people crashed in Pennsylvania, USA.

A small aircraft departing from Lancaster Airport in southern Pennsylvania, USA, around 3 p.m. local time on the 9th crashed while heading to Springfield, Ohio. Photo by CNN

According to AP News and CNN on the 9th (local time), a small aircraft departing from Lancaster Airport in southern Pennsylvania around 3 p.m. and heading to Springfield, Ohio, crashed in the residential area of Manheim Township near Lancaster Airport. This location is about 120 km west of Philadelphia, the largest city in Pennsylvania.

There were five people on board the aircraft at the time of the accident, and they were reportedly transported to a nearby hospital immediately after the crash. However, specific information regarding the extent of their injuries has not been confirmed.

A video shared on social media showing the scene at the time captures black smoke rising from debris in a parking lot, with several vehicles engulfed in flames.

The aircraft involved in the accident was a single-engine light aircraft, the Aircraft Bonanza.

AP reported, "Audio from the air traffic control tower includes someone on the plane requesting to land because the aircraft door was open," adding, "After the controller granted permission to land and instructed to 'climb,' shortly afterward, someone can be heard saying the aircraft has crashed."

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the cause of the accident.

Recently, there have been a series of aircraft accidents in the United States. On January 29, near Ronald Reagan Airport close to Washington DC, a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided and crashed, resulting in 67 deaths. Two days later, a medical transport aircraft carrying six people crashed in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing all on board and one additional person, totaling seven fatalities.

On the 7th of last month, a small aircraft carrying 10 people went missing in Alaska and was later found destroyed, with all 10 occupants deceased. On the 19th of the same month, two light aircraft collided at Marana Regional Airport in Arizona, resulting in the deaths of two people on one of the planes at the scene.