Several people are feared dead after a small plane crashed onto a California neighbourhood before dawn yesterday, destroying homes and setting cars on fire.At least 10 houses were burned or hit by debris that spread over a wide area, and cars on both sides of a street went up in flames when the Cessna 550 slammed into the ground in San Diego.“There are more than one fatality that we found so far, but we’re waiting to get the registered numbers that were on the plane itself,” said San Diego’s Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy.“When it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down, it took out every single car that was on both sides of the street,” he said, adding: “We have jet fuel all over the place.”Footage of the immediate aftermath of the crash showed a line of burning fuel linking the flaming cars.Eddy said “miraculously” no one on the ground had been killed or seriously hurt.Daylight revealed what a close call it had been for some people, with images showing the roof of one home blackened and collapsing.Vehicles were twisted and charred, and several trees were burned. The smell of fuel hung in the air hours after the crash as authorities combed the area for clues.The accident happened in thick fog when the plane, which had come from Kansas, was nearing the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport.The plane, which can carry up to eight people, went down around 3.45am (1145 GMT), according to the Federal Aviation Administration, striking the Murphy Canyon neighbourhood.The residential area it hit is largely military housing.San Diego is home to US Navy facilities, Marine Corps bases and Coast Guard stations.The accident came at a time of heightened tension in the skies above America, with a number of incidents rocking public confidence in flying. – AFP
