Video: Plane Crashes into Mobile Home Park, Sparking Fatal Blaze
A small, single-engine plane crashed into a mobile home park in Clearwater, FL, killing several people and damaging at least four homes. Scott Ehlers, Clearwater’s fire chief, gave a report to media at the scene.
Shortly after 7 p.m. on the evening of Feb. 1, the FAA received a transmission from a pilot who was experiencing engine trouble over Clearwater. Contact was lost about three miles north of the runway. At 7:08 p.m., local authorities received a call about an out-of-control fire at the Bayside Waters mobile home park.
Local authorities and officials from Airport Emergency Response (AER), who specialize in dealing with large fires, converged on the scene at 7:15 pm. They were able to “quickly” contain the blaze despite it being “a very complicated scene,” according to Chief Ehlers.
He explained that a Beechcraft Bonanza V35 crashed into at least four homes, causing fire damage to all. The plane was found “predominantly in one structure.” Footage of the immediate aftermath shows a massive fireball rising to the sky as neighbors rush outside to inspect the chaos. Another clip, taken later in the evening, shows the smoldering wreckage.
A Beech V35B Bonanza aircraft (N6659L) crashed into the Bayside Waters mobile home park in Clearwater, Florida,and triggered multiple fires.
The accident happened around 7:30 p.m. on February 1, 2024, off U.S. Highway 19, just south of Gulf to Bay Boulevard.#aircraft #accident pic.twitter.com/GOYKoi1bJ7
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) February 2, 2024
#NEWS | A single engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35 has crashed into Bayside Waters mobile home park in Clearwater FL, resulting in the deaths of the occupants and several on the ground.
?Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department
Read more at AviationSource!https://t.co/sqiLkFrT4r… pic.twitter.com/QYAELfadFM
— AviationSource (@AvSourceNews) February 2, 2024
“I can confirm we have several fatalities both from the aircraft and in the mobile home,” the chief said. This includes the pilot and at least two people who were in one of the homes, but some witness reports seem to imply there were additional victims trapped in surrounding homes that caught fire. As of Thursday night, officials said they were “still working to make sure there are no additional [victims].”
“It was very loud! It was one big boom, but it didn’t sound like a car crash,” a witness told Fox. “It was one big boom. It sounded more like something blew up.”
One unidentified man who spoke with Fox was a close friend to several of the victims. They had played golf earlier in the day, parting just moments before the fatal crash. “I don’t know what to say,” the man told reporters. “We were together, 10 minutes later they’re dead. I can’t understand why. I just don’t know.”
The witness continued: “We would golf once a week together. We were like a close-knit family, even though we’re not families. But we’ve known each other for a long time. They were all great great people. I can’t describe the feeling that I have right now, because I just left them.”
The National Transportation Safety Board has been tasked with investigating the incident and determining atheexact cause of the crash.
BREAKING: Officials in Clearwater, FL confirm fatalities after small aircraft crashes into mobile home park @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/Qj1SQMO9Zs
— Cristian Benavides (@cbenavidesTV) February 2, 2024
