Private plane crashes in Milan: loud hiss and explosion follow crash that kills 8 people

A private plane has crashed in the Italian city of Milan. All eight occupants are said to have died, Italian media write. Then a large fire broke out at the crash site. The fire brigade came en masse.

At around 1 p.m., the small private plane crashed just outside the center of Milan, which happened shortly after takeoff. The plane crashed into a vacant building under renovation, which is normally used as an office and bus parking lot. No one was inside at the time of the crash. The plane, the parking garage, and several parked cars nearby caught fire after the impact. The fire service has now brought the fire under control.

Eight dead

According to the first information, it would be a private flight that departed from Milan-Linate with destination Olbia, in Sardinia. According to Italian media, the pilot, another crew member, and the six passengers were killed in the crash. One of the victims was a child. No other deaths or injuries have been reported.

It is not yet clear how the crash could have happened, but eyewitnesses report that one of the aircraft’s engines caught fire, and the aircraft then plunged into a nosedive. “The blow was devastating,” Carlo Cardinali of the Milan fire brigade told Ansa news agency. “So far, we have only been able to find one body.”

Loud hiss

The plane crashed near the San Donato metro station. People nearby heard a very loud hiss and then an explosion, caused by the impact of the plane. The flames then immediately engulfed the two-story parking building, located near the yellow metro terminus in the city.

The San Donato station is located in the southeastern part of Milan, dozens of videos are circulating on social networks of people who were at the station at the time, experiencing the tragedy live. The Azienda Trasporti Milanesi (ATM) confirms that the office and parking building was closed at the time of the plane crash and that there were no other casualties inside.