COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A small plane crashed into a neighborhood in dense fog and set a home on fire Wednesday near an airport in South Carolina’s capital city, authorities said. A woman inside the home apparently escaped injury from the crash, but there was no immediate word on the fate of people in the plane.
The single-engine Beechcraft BE-33 crashed just before 11 a.m., about a mile from the Jim Hamilton–L.B. Owens Airport, which handles non-commercial airplanes in Columbia, authorities said.
The plane hit nearby trees, then struck the roof of the home before slamming into the ground, Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said. The impact left a large hole in the roof of the home, and firefighters were able to control the blaze within minutes, the department said.
Jenkins said he didn't know if the plane was on fire before the crash.
Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford was at the scene in the Rosewood section of Columbia, but wouldn’t immediately say if anyone died.
A neighbor said the woman inside the home and the rest of the people in the community appeared to be OK.
The woman had just remodeled her home and was worried about making sure her three cats had a safe place to stay, Amy Koon said.
The neighborhood hears plenty of planes fly over, she said.
“I’m outside a lot, you’ll hear planes and they sound like they’re starting to splutter, and you’re thinking, oh God. But I just, even back to my childhood, I don’t ever remember planes going down here," Koon said.
The plane appeared to be trying to land at the airport, and investigators didn't immediately know where the flight originated, Jenkins said.
Federal investigators are on their way to the crash site, authorities said.
Fog lowered visibility around the airport to a quarter-mile (400 meters) at the time of the crash, according to National Weather Service data.
