All residents safe as jet crashes into homes
Source: Agencies |
April 8, 2012, Sunday
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ALL residents of an apartment complex for the elderly in Virginia that was destroyed when a United States Navy fighter jet crashed into it on Friday, have been accounted for, with only one resident still hospitalized with minor injuries, a rescue crew chief said yesterday.
The person not yet discharged is in good condition though believed to have broken bones, Virginia Beach Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Riley said.
"Everyone has been accounted for" at the Mayfair Mews complex in Virginia Beach, Riley said. "We are not actively looking for anyone."
The F/A-18D fighter crashed into the apartment complex soon after takeoff on Friday, sending fireballs into the sky, damaging six buildings and injuring at least seven people.
All the injuries, including those to the F/A-18 crew, were described as minor, officials said.
Both crew members ejected safely from the aircraft before it crashed into the buildings in Virginia Beach, and one pilot was found still strapped into his ejection seat.
The F/A-18D "suffered a catastrophic mechanical malfunction" during a training flight, Navy Captain Mark Weisgerber said in a statement from the Pentagon.
Thick black clouds of smoke billowed into the air as fire reduced the apartment buildings to a blackened shell. The Mayfair Mews complex is less than 3.2 kilometers from Naval Air Station Oceana, where the F-18D was based.
Crews searched for residents in five buildings, several of which collapsed, Riley said.
Witness Kelly McQuaid, who lives near the apartment complex, said the jet was on fire before it crashed.
"It almost looked like the nose was pointed up like he was trying to pull back up," she said.
McQuaid said she saw one pilot as he was brought out on a stretcher.
"He actually looked pretty well," she said. "You could tell he was dazed, and there were scratches on his face."
She said people closer to the scene told her that the pilot apologized for crashing his plane into the building.
Vicki Hoffman, who lives next door to the Mews, said that one pilot landed on her neighbor's patio.
"She said she was trying to get his head gear off and said the response was very quick," she said. "He was conscious."
Admiral John Harvey Jr, commander of the US Fleet Forces, praised the "heroic response" of those at the complex and emergency personnel.
The person not yet discharged is in good condition though believed to have broken bones, Virginia Beach Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Riley said.
"Everyone has been accounted for" at the Mayfair Mews complex in Virginia Beach, Riley said. "We are not actively looking for anyone."
The F/A-18D fighter crashed into the apartment complex soon after takeoff on Friday, sending fireballs into the sky, damaging six buildings and injuring at least seven people.
All the injuries, including those to the F/A-18 crew, were described as minor, officials said.
Both crew members ejected safely from the aircraft before it crashed into the buildings in Virginia Beach, and one pilot was found still strapped into his ejection seat.
The F/A-18D "suffered a catastrophic mechanical malfunction" during a training flight, Navy Captain Mark Weisgerber said in a statement from the Pentagon.
Thick black clouds of smoke billowed into the air as fire reduced the apartment buildings to a blackened shell. The Mayfair Mews complex is less than 3.2 kilometers from Naval Air Station Oceana, where the F-18D was based.
Crews searched for residents in five buildings, several of which collapsed, Riley said.
Witness Kelly McQuaid, who lives near the apartment complex, said the jet was on fire before it crashed.
"It almost looked like the nose was pointed up like he was trying to pull back up," she said.
McQuaid said she saw one pilot as he was brought out on a stretcher.
"He actually looked pretty well," she said. "You could tell he was dazed, and there were scratches on his face."
She said people closer to the scene told her that the pilot apologized for crashing his plane into the building.
Vicki Hoffman, who lives next door to the Mews, said that one pilot landed on her neighbor's patio.
"She said she was trying to get his head gear off and said the response was very quick," she said. "He was conscious."
Admiral John Harvey Jr, commander of the US Fleet Forces, praised the "heroic response" of those at the complex and emergency personnel.
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