Small plane crashes into building in New Hampshire; all aboard die

KEENE, NH –

A small plane crashed into an apartment building in New Hampshire, killing both people on board and igniting a large fire on the ground, authorities said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Saturday that a single-engine Beechcraft Sierra plane crashed Friday night into a building north of Keene Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene, New Hampshire. City officials said on their Facebook page that no one was injured in the building that was hit by the plane but that « those on the plane perished. »

« The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation and provide additional updates, » the FAA said.

Keene Mayor George Hansel told The Associated Press that two people on the plane had died but had not been identified. He said the plane hit a two-story barn attached to a multi-family apartment building. All eight people were evacuated from the building due to the ensuing fire and have since been relocated.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

“We are very lucky in some ways that the plane did not hit a part of the building where people were,” he said. “It obviously could have been much worse, but any loss of life is a tragedy.”

Shaughn Calkins told WMUR-TV he saw the fire while driving.

« We were probably about a quarter mile away and you could feel the heat from the fire, » Calkins said. « It was swelling, so it was a big fire. »