Nine people were killed on Sunday when a Learjet 60 business jet crashed into a neighbourhood in southern Florida , just miles away from US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, officials said.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis described the incident as a “missile going down”.
It crashed near Cresthaven, a neighbourhood in Palm Beach County less than seven miles (11 kilometres) from Mar-a-Lago. About 600 people were being evacuated and taken to two shelters in the county, he said. Seconds later, the person declared an emergency as the descent rate increased to 20,000 feet per minute. About 35 seconds after the first mayday call, the last words heard from the cockpit were a rapidly spoken “We’re out of time.
Authorities have not released the identities of the nine victims. Videos shared on social media showed the jet hitting the ground beside a road and exploding. “When you see that video, it’s a jarring thing. It was like a missile coming down, and a massive explosion, debris going everywhere,” he added. An audio recording from a Miami air traffic control centre, posted on LiveATC, a website that broadcasts air traffic control communications, captured the plane’s final moments in unusual detail. The federal aviation administration (FAA) and the national transportation safety board (NTSB) are investigating the crash. The cause of the crash remains unknown.
US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the plane had departed from Austin, Texas, and was bound for the Bahamas. “It was a big-time tragedy that happened,” DeSantis said at a press conference near the crash site in Lake Worth Beach. The crash left a “massive crater” beside the road near the entrance to a mobile home park, Palm Beach County commissioner Joel Flores said at the news conference. A person in the cockpit initially told an air traffic controller that they were “managing the ice” but were facing “moderate” turbulence and seeking “better rides”. Less than a minute later, the person said “Mayday, mayday” and cautioned that the plane was descending at 10,000 feet per minute. Less than 20 seconds later, the person said: “We’re going to crash into the ground” before adding that the descent rate had reached 22,000 feet per minute as the plane began banking.
