5 Dead, 2 Hospitalized After Plane Parts Crash Into California Homes

Five people were killed and two hospitalized Sunday afternoon after a small plane crashed into a neighborhood in Yorba Linda, California. Residents in one of the homes set ablaze were reportedly hosting a Super Bowl party at the time of the crash.

The small plane, a 1981 twin-engine Cessa 414A, left Fullerton Municipal Airport just after 1:30 p.m. Sunday, according to KABC. The pilot flew about 10 miles from the airport before he encountered an issue. Authorities said the plane reached 700 feet into the air before it fell.

According to the Orange County Fire Authority, there were at least two fires at the scene.

Authorities said the male pilot died. Four people—two women and two men—inside one of the homes were also killed. Witnesses told KABC the residents were hosting a Super Bowl LIII party. The two-story home was the most heavily damaged structure.

Two others were hospitalized with burn injuries. A firefighter was treated for minor injuries.

Video footage surfaced on social media showing the home engulfed in a massive fire, and two explosions are heard. Several neighbors are seen trying to put out the fire, while the plane wreckage was laid across the street.

“I walked outside and I look up and I just see debris flying everywhere,” one neighbor, Tony Tomminelli, told KABC. “Part of a plane, which I guess eventually was the motor, flew down into the garage like a torpedo – just hit the garage and blew up.”

Another witness, Jared Bocachica, told KTLA he saw the plane explode in the sky “about 100 feet off of the ground.”

“I come out …it’s raining plane parts from he sky,” Bocachica said. “The plane didn’t hit and scatter, it blew up and hit the house.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said the debris field spread across four blocks. NTSB investigators arrived on the scene Monday.

NTSB investigator Maja Smith said some witnesses saw wings fall off the plane before the crash.

“Because there are all these people around, all these witnesses, we are getting information that if the accident happened on the side of a hill, I wouldn’t have because we wouldn’t have any witnesses,” she told KABC, adding that the videos and statements could help their investigation.

Eliott Simpson, a NTSB aviation accident investigator, told reporters the main cabin landed in one resident’s backyard.

“The main cabin of the airplane, along with one of the engines, came to rest at the bottom of a ravine in the backyard of somebody’s house,” Simpson said, reports CNN. “During the impact sequence, one house caught fire and that’s where we have the four fatalities.”

The preliminary report is expected to be released in two weeks, while it could take a year to 18 months for the final report. The identities of the deceased have not been released.

Photo credit: Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images