All nine people aboard a plane have been killed after it crashed near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach County, South Florida. The crash occurred near Crest Haven, about 9 miles from the resort.
The aircraft crashed in a residential area and created a huge fireball beside a busy road, narrowly missing homes and moving vehicles.
Videos recorded by people in cars showed the aircraft falling rapidly before exploding near the road. Flames burned around a large crater and thick black smoke covered the crash site.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that the Learjet 60 crashed in Palm Beach County at 12:50 p.m. local time Sunday. He called it a “terrible tragedy” and said the Federal Aviation Administration would send a team to assist the National Transportation Safety Board investigation.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said there were no immediate reports of anyone on the ground being killed or injured. He described the crash as enormous and said it looked like a missile had fallen from the sky.
Heavy rain affected the region on Sunday, and the National Weather Service kept a flood warning in place until Monday afternoon. FAA data showed that the plane had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas for the Bahamas.
Authorities initially did not say what caused the crash or who was aboard. Air-traffic recordings and flight-tracking data showed the aircraft travelling east at 35,000 feet, or about 11 kilometres.
The pilots reported turbulence, icing and rain and requested permission to climb another 2,000 feet, or about 610 metres.
The aircraft then began a steep descent. It descended first at 10,000 feet per minute, then 20,000 and eventually 30,000 feet per minute, exceeding its design speed. The pilot declared an emergency and sent distress calls.
The aircraft banked sharply to the right just before impact. The pilot had reported icing and severe turbulence, with the aircraft moving up and down by as much as 700 feet.
The pilot told controllers that light, clear ice had formed on the aircraft and that the turbulence was moderate. Conditions deteriorated quickly after the crew requested a higher altitude in the rain. The pilot then declared an emergency.
“We are descending at 8,000 feet per minute. Mayday, mayday—we are descending at 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot said. He later reported a descent of 20,000 feet per minute and warned: “We are going to hit the ground.”
Jim Reynolds, a spokesman for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, said the aircraft was privately owned but could not immediately provide details about those aboard. Palm Beach County authorities began evacuating about 600 residents from a nearby mobile-home community during the investigation.
County authorities said the road near the crash site would remain closed until further notice. The crash occurred in Greenacres, Florida, a city of about 45,000 people located roughly 7 miles, or 11 kilometres, southwest of West Palm Beach.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report