A small plane headed to Jamaica to assist in hurricane relief efforts crashed into a Coral Springs neighborhood on Monday morning, officials said.
The crash occurred around 10:15 a.m. in the area of the 5000 block of Northwest 57th Way, just west of State Road 7 and south of the Sawgrass Expressway. Aerial footage showed the aircraft damaged a fence and trees in the backyard of a residence before plummeting into a man-made pond.
Coral Springs Fire Rescue officials said they responded immediately, and a dive team conducted a preliminary operation but did not locate any victims. “We do have our police department here with their divers as well, they’ll be conducting a recovery mission shortly,” said Coral Springs Deputy Fire Chief Mike Moser. “We were unable to find any victims or any large pieces of fuselage on our initial dive. We have not found an entire plane yet, we believe that it may be broken into smaller pieces, we don’t know yet of course, this is very preliminary.”
Authorities confirmed no one on the ground was injured, and the number of people on board remains unknown. Officials with the City of Fort Lauderdale said the Beechcraft King Air twin-turboprop plane departed Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at 10:14 a.m., bound for Montego Bay, Jamaica, to support relief efforts following Hurricane Melissa.
Coral Springs Police said the scene remains active and the condition of the occupants has not yet been released. Creekside Drive between NW 53rd Drive was closed as crews worked to clear the area.
“Fortunately the plane did not strike any houses when it entered the water,” Moser said, noting that the debris field was “pretty large.” He urged residents who find debris in their yards to contact authorities at 954-344-1800.
The Coral Springs Police Department, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the crash. No other information was immediately available.
