MARIETTA — A retired Columbus firefighter was reportedly one of the two men killed yesterday when the small plane they were in crashed into a car dealership parking lot in Marietta, sparking a large fire.
Timothy Gifford, 49, of Orient, and Eric Seevers, 45, of Parkersburg, W. Va., were the only people in the 1974 Beechcraft Air King E90 when it crashed into the Pioneer Buick GMC dealership parking on Pike Street in Marietta about 7:15 a.m., according to Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Nathan Dennis
The plane had apparently departed about 30 minutes earlier from John Glenn International Airport in Columbus, but it was not immediately clear where it was headed.
The crash damaged several vehicles at the dealership and sparked a fire that sent dark plumes of smoke spewing into the air, but no one on the ground was injured. It wasn’t known if anyone was in the dealership at the time of the crash.
Authorities did not say which one was piloting the aircraft.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. The crash will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.