Akron plane crash: Moment of fatal impact captured by teenager posing for Snapchat video
There were no survivors in the crash
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Your support makes all the difference.As emergency teams work to recover the bodies of at least nine people killed when a small business jet crashed in Ohio, images have emerged of the moment of impact.
The photographs were taken by a teenager posing for a selfie video. Reports said the girl was sitting inside her home in the city of Akron on Tuesday afternoon and smiling for the camera when a flash of light filled the screen.
Once she realised what had happened, she turned and screamed: “Oh my God.”
A mass-fatality team was on Wednesday working to recover the bodies of victims and sift through the wreckage. Officials will also try to determine why the jet - whose owner said was carrying nine people - crashed into the apartment building with a huge bang.
USA Today reported that the small plane struck the two-story complex at about 3pm in Akron and burst into flames.
Witnesses say the plane - believed to be a Hawker H25 - clipped something on its final approach into Akron Fulton Airport before crashing into the building.
Augusto Lewkowicz, the owner of the plane, told the Akron Beacon Journal that all of those on board, including the pilot and co-pilot, died. However he would not release their names.
It is unclear if there were any more victims. The small business jet took off from Dayton, Ohio.
No one was inside the four-unit apartment building or another home that caught fire, said Lt Sierjie Lash, an Akron fire department spokesman.
“There is nothing I can say,” said Augusto Lewkowicz, CEO of Execuflight, the company that owns the plane.
“We are looking into what happened. I will be up in Akron. I am at a loss for words. It was a perfectly maintained aircraft.”
The Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and other state and local officials planned to hold a news conference around noon Wednesday at the crash site.
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