AKRON – Authorities say a mass-fatality team will begin working Wednesday morning to sift through the wreckage and recover bodies from the scene of a deadly plane crash in Akron.
The owner of the small business jet that crashed into an apartment building says there were nine people aboard. Authorities have confirmed two deaths but say they’re not expecting any survivors.
UPDATE 10:00 a.m. Wed.: A Florida real estate company says seven of its associates were among the nine people believed killed. Pebb Enterprises in Boca Raton says in a statement that two executives and five employees were aboard the jet that crashed and exploded. Authorities are trying to independently confirm how many people were on board.
Inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are also due at the scene.
The Akron fire department says investigators are trying to independently determine how many people were on the 10-seat Hawker H25 when it went down Tuesday. Plane owner Augusto Lewkowicz says two pilots and seven passengers were on the flight from Dayton to Akron Fulton International Airport, 2 miles from where the crash happened.
Witnesses say they heard explosions when the plane hit. Carrie Willis lives several blocks away and says she heard a big bang and her couch shook.
Authorities say no one was inside the four-unit apartment building or another home that caught fire.