PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - Two adults and two juveniles had to be transported to the hospital after their small plane crashed at a park near North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines.
7SkyForce HD hovered over the scene at Cinnamon Place Park, in the area of Pembroke Road and Jodi Lane, about a mile southwest of the airport, just before 5 p.m., Thursday.
According to Pembroke Pines Police, all four people on board the aircraft were accounted for.
“The occupants were already outside of the airplane upon emergency personnel arriving,” Pembroke Pines Police Capt. Al Xiques said. “They did suffer injuries and were immediately transported to a local hospital. I know that their condition is serious.”
The four people on board were transported to Memorial Regional Hospital.
They have since been transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital for further treatment, with one of the victims being airlifted to the Miami hospital. 7News cameras captured a man entering the hospital with, what appeared to be, burns on his face.
A friend of the passenger said the man’s two children were on board the aircraft, and the pilot is a police officer. One of the children had bandages covering both arms, 7News cameras showed.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the SOCATA TB10 Tobago took off from the airport and crashed at around 4:30 p.m.
Kaleb Campbell said he was playing football in the park when the crash occurred.
“When I looked up, I see a smoking plane coming down, coming to hit us,” Campbell said. “We jumped the fence. We ran across the street, and we see everything unfold. It was so scary for us because we were both frozen. We didn’t know how to react to anything, so it was really scary for us.”
Aerial footage captured smoke billowing from the plane’s wreckage, and cellphone footage captured flames shortly after the plane went down.
“There was fire. The fire department, they were already here,” witness Jorge Nino said. “I saw the two kids and the man sitting over there, and they looked OK. I saw another guy laying down over there.”
The man who shot the cellphone video of the burning plane, who asked not to be identified, said he first thought it was a car crash. He would rush out to find the situation too dangerous to approach.
“The second explosion, it was like a really loud sound, so I said, ‘No, something’s wrong because I heard a lot of yelling,'” he said. “I saw the plane, and then, it caught on fire, big flames. It caught on fire. There was two little girls that I saw. They said it was four people on there, but I only saw two little girls sitting down crying.”
Melissa Rene shot video of the billowing smoke thinking a building was on fire.
“This is catastrophic,” she said.
Friday’s crash was the third near the airport in December. One plane landed upside down trying to make an emergency return. Another crash involved a small experimental plane, and that pilot did not survive.
Authorities have not released the names of the four people on board the plane.
Crews removed the plane from the scene in pieces by Friday afternoon.
“It’s just sad seeing what happened, but knowing that everyone has survived, that’s a very good sign,” Campbell said.
Meanwhile, those who live near the airport, including the man who recorded the cellphone video, are getting concerned.
“I mean, we all worry around the neighborhood because these planes fly around each and every day, and I think this is like the fourth crash that happened in Pembroke, so we’re concerned about that,” he said. “Every day you see a plane now, you got to wonder where it’s going or do you go inside? Do you run inside? Or what do you do?”
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, and the NTSB will take charge of the investigation.
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