By Daniel Trotta and Jiawei Wang
(Reuters) – A small plane crashed into and demolished a mobile home on Thursday in Clearwater, Florida, presumably killing the pilot, while firefighters sought to determine if there were any victims on the ground, officials and media reports said.
Images posted online by the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department showed flames and smoke billowing from the destroyed home.
The pilot had radioed in a Mayday distress call, WTSP television news reported, citing Clearwater Fire Chief Scott Ehlers.
One person on the ground received a minor injury and refused treatment, said Ehlers, who believed the pilot was dead, according to reports from the scene.
In all, four homes were damaged in the mobile home park where the crash occurred, he said.
“Our biggest thing right now is to try and figure out if there are any other victims. A mobile home doesn’t withstand much in the first place, so the aircraft pretty much demolished it. The fire consumed the rest,” Ehlers said, according to WFLA television.
Neighbor Steven Ascari, who posted video of the scene on social media, said first responders arrived quickly and put out the flames within half an hour.
“We heard an explosion outside that shook the entire apartment and next thing you know a giant pillar of smoke was seen,” Ascari said.
Clearwater is a city of about 117,000 people on the Gulf Coast about 24 miles (40 km) west of Tampa.
Fire officials reported the first call came in at 7:08 p.m. EST on Thursday (0008 GMT on Friday)
The flight tracking website FlightAware reported a Beechcraft 35 Bonanza departed Vero Beach Regional Airport on the east coast of Florida about an hour before the crash, headed toward the Clearwater Air Park. Local media identified that aircraft as the one that crashed.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California, and Jiawei Wang in Beijing; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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