Tragedy struck near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Sunday as a Learjet aircraft carrying nine people crashed into a South Florida neighbourhood, killing everyone on board.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the fatalities, describing the incident as a horrific tragedy. He said the Learjet 60 had taken off from Austin, Texas, and was heading to the Bahamas before it went down near Cresthaven in Palm Beach County, less than seven miles from Mar-a-Lago.
Unverified videos shared on social media showed the plane plunging almost vertically at high speed before hitting the ground and erupting into a massive fireball, leaving a burning crater near a busy road.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who spoke with reporters near the scene, called the crash catastrophic.
“Obviously this is a cataclysmic plane crash. It looked like a missile going down,” he said, adding that no injuries were reported on the ground.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores said about 600 residents were evacuated after the aircraft crashed near the entrance of a mobile home park.
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The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate the incident alongside the National Transportation Safety Board.
President Trump, who had been at Mar-a-Lago, left from the nearby Donald J. Trump International Airport aboard Air Force One at 11:55 a.m., about an hour before the crash. Storms had been reported in the area, and the President was seen carrying an umbrella as he boarded.
In an audio recording posted on air traffic website liveatc.net, a voice from the cockpit was heard reporting moderate turbulence and icing, saying the crew was “managing the ice” and “picking up precipitation” and needed to climb.
“Mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the voice said, before declaring an emergency as the descent rate rose to 20,000 feet per minute.
“We’re going to crash into the ground,” the person said, shortly before communication was lost.
Naija News
