Two dead and five unaccounted for after US aircraft crash

A small aircraft crashed into a building adjacent to the Wichita, Kansas, airport, killing two people and leaving five unaccounted for.

Just before 3pm Irish time (10am local time) the pilot of a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air reported losing engine power shortly after take-off, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The aircraft crashed into a building on airport property while attempting to return to the runway, wrote Lynn Lunsford, an FAA spokesman, in an email.

At least four people were taken to the hospital, said fire department chief Ron Blackwell. The pilot was believed to be the only person aboard the plane, said airport officials.

“We heard a low aircraft and then a big bang,” Jon Weaver, who works in a building across the street, told a local television channel KSN TV. “There were people running everywhere . . . It looked like the landing gear was on top of the roof. It looked like the aircraft hit directly in to the side of the building.”

FAA investigators are at the scene and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified. Bloomberg