A plane carrying nine people crashed in a residential neighbourhood in Florida on Sunday, killing everyone on board, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, reports AP.
A Learjet 60 crashed near Cresthaven, Florida, at 12:50 p.m. Eastern Time, Duffy said in a post on X. "All nine people on board were killed."
The aircraft departed from Austin, Texas, and was heading to the Bahamas. Duffy described the crash as a "horrific tragedy."
The Federal Aviation Administration was sending a team to the scene to support the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, he said.
It was unclear whether anyone on the ground was injured.
Minutes before the crash, the pilot reported ice accumulating on the aircraft and moderate turbulence, according to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net.
The plane declared an emergency shortly afterwards and plunged about 8.2 km in one minute.
Scattered storms were reported in the area at the time of the crash. Local media said the aircraft had passed through a stronger storm cell a few minutes before it began descending.
Video of the crash showed the aircraft diving nose-first from the sky before erupting into a huge fireball near a major roadway and creating a crater.
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