The plane crashed during takeoff and landed in a pond. Seven people were board and two others were injured tried to help them out of the plane.
Eliot Kleinberg – Palm Beach Post
Nine people received medical treatment at an area hospital after a small plane went down at midday Thursday near the North County airport near Palm Beach Gardens, authorities said.
Seven of the people were aboard the plane and the two others tried to rescue them after the crash.
About 11:15 a.m., the twin-engine Cessna 414 ran off the the runway on takeoff at the airport, officially called North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport, and went into a pond, according to Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Three adults and one child were taken to the hospital as trauma patients, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Capt. Albert Borroto said in a news briefing at the airport, monitored on The Palm Beach Post’s news partner, WPTV NewsChannel 5.
Borroto said rescue crews from the county and Palm Beach Gardens had to pull the seven out of the plane. He said they were driven to the hospital, which Borroto did not name. He said his agency would not provide the types of injuries because of medical privacy rules.
Borroto did not specify the injuries to the two people from the airport who tried to help at the crash. He did not say if they worked at the airport or one of the private companies on the property.
“The aircraft may have flipped and ended up in its final resting spot,” Borroto said. “The fuselage appears to be intact. The plane did come apart as far as the wings and the engines.”
Borroto said there was no fire but a small fuel leak.
The FAA said it is sending an investigator to the crash site.
