Nine killed after business jet crashes into buildings in Akron, Ohio

Nine people died on 10 November when the small business jet they were in crashed into two residential buildings in Akron, Ohio. Ohio State Highway Patrol officially confirmed that the plane's pilot, co-pilot and an unknown number of passengers were killed.

According to Reuters, unnamed police sources at the crash site told local reporters that a total of nine people had died at the crash. Summit County medical examiner Lisa Kohler told the media that she would implement a "mass casualty plan" for the morning of 11 November.

The 10-passenger plane crashed into a residential building around 3pm ET and was engulfed in flames, Ohio State Highway patrol spokesman Lieutenant Bill Haymaker said. Haymaker said that the jet then hit an embankment, another residential building and a utility wire. The plan was "intact but burnt," he said.

According to Akron-based utility FirstEnergy Corp, the crash led to a power outage that affected 1,500 customers around Akron Fulton Airport. "It appears that the plane clipped a couple of lines," FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said.

Haymaker told reporters that there were no residents in either building at the time of the crash and that no other injuries were reported on the ground. "Obviously, the situation could have been worse, granted, if anybody was home," Haymaker said.

Rebecca Porter, a witness to the crash, told reporters: "I heard this noise, and a plane just dropped out of the sky and veered to the left and plowed into the duplexes there." Meanwhile, Mike Patton, who works nearby, told WKYC that he heard "a very loud roar" during his lunch break. "You could hear the engines just running, and when he hit the throttle — just before he hit it — it made a really loud roar, and he just couldn't recover," Patton said.

NBC News reported that the plane was on the second leg of a charter flight when it crashed and that no immediate information regarding the number of passengers was available. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said the plan was a Hawker H25 business jet and that the National Transportation Safety Board will be conducting the investigation.