Tuesday, July 10, 2007

July 10, 2007: Small Plane Crashed Into 2 Sanford Homes

This morning, I was watching, "Live With Regis and Kelly" shortly after 9 am but this program was interrupted by a local TV news station suddenly. It's a breaking news. Not again. I complained little bit. Learned that a small plane from Daytona Beach crashed into 2 homes that were destroyed by a fire in Sanford, north of Orlando. It was trying to land at an airport nearby. I can't believe what I saw on the TV news. Here is an article online from a local TV news:
5 Killed In Sanford Plane Crash
SANFORD, Fla. -- A small plane crashed into a Seminole County neighborhood on Tuesday killing five people and sparking a fire.

It happened at the Preserves at Lake Monroe subdivision along Wilson Bay Ridge Street, WESH 2 News reported.

One of the victims aboard the plane was identified as Dr. Bruce Kennedy, a plastic surgeon and son-in-law of Bill France Jr., the former head of NASCAR who died earlier this year. The second person aboard the plane was not immediately identified.

The plane was a Cessna 310 enroute from Daytona Beach to Lakeland when it reported smoke in the cockpit and declared an emergency. It crashed about 3 miles north-northwest of Orlando-Sanford International Airport and was registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau Inc. of Daytona Beach, Federal Aviation Administration representative Kathleen Bergen said.

State officials said Competitor Liason Bureau is a company registered to France.

In addition to the five deaths, at least three people, including a man, a woman and a child, were critically injured, and two helicopters were called to transport the victims to local hospitals, Sanford Police Department spokeswoman Cleo Cohen said. A search is under way for a 4-year-old child missing since the crash.

An off-duty Lake Mary firefighter was also treated for chest pains after rushing into a home to rescue a 10-year-old boy without an oxygen tank. He was transported to a hospital.

Neighborhood residents said they could hear the plane over their subdivision before the aircraft crashed into two homes.

"First I heard a plane flying overhead. It sounded like a semitruck coming down the road trying to slow down. As soon as it hit, it exploded into flames," a witness said.

Video from Chopper 2 showed two homes were gutted by the crash and fire. A third home was also damaged. Multiple fire engines are at the scene working to extinguish the flames. Neighbors said they were terrified in the aftermath of the crash.

"A boy jumped out of the second story. He was on fire and extinguished himself. The wife ran out of the front door. She was on fire. Someone was screaming about a baby still inside the house," a witness said.

The subdivision is located along Riverview and Narcissus avenues. The homes in the subdivision are only a few years old, reports indicated.


When I found out Dr. Bruce Kennedy is the son-in-law of NASCAR chairman, Bill Frances, Jr. who passed away a month ago, I was surprised to learn that he is related to Bill Frances, Jr. who created speedway in my hometown in the 1950s. Anyways, a local TV news kept continuing to report about that terrible situation for 3 hours. It was a big news this morning. Go to the website of a local TV news in the Feeds section of this page if u wants to check it out.

No comments:

Post a Comment