California (USA), Jul 15 (AP) Two women were killed when a small plane rammed into an abandoned house in a luxury gated community in the hills of Northern California. Relatives gave this information on Wednesday.
Mary Ellen Carlin of Pacific Grove was flying the plane Tuesday, and Alice Diane Emig of Rancho Cordova and her dog, Toby, were on board, Emig’s family told Monterey Bay-area news station KSBW-TV.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the twin-engine Cessna 421 crashed into the home in the gated community, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from downtown Monterey, shortly after departing from Monterey Regional Airport.
The accident caused a fire in the house which spread to the surrounding bushes, but the workers brought it under control on Tuesday.
The family told the TV station that Carlin, the plane’s owner and a flight instructor, was planning to fly an Amig from Monterey to Mather in the Sacramento area.
Relatives said the deputy told them that no one survived the accident.
Officials have not confirmed who was flying the plane, but Carlin’s son, David Carlin, told the Monterey Herald that he had no doubt that his mother was the pilot.
“My mom flew that plane for more than a decade,” he said. “I want to make sure everyone knows that my mom was a great pilot. She spent thousands of hours flying. She taught dozens of students over the years. She’s like a legend.” A Monterey County Sheriff’s Department spokesman John Thornberg said no body had yet been pulled from the rubble.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation. (ap) smn smn
(This story is published as part of an auto-generated Syndicate wire feed. Headline or body have not been edited by ABP Live.)
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