DARTMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A small airplane crashed onto Interstate 195 in Dartmouth on Monday, killing both people on board and scattering flaming debris across the highway.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said it was a miracle that no motorists were seriously injured in the crash during the morning rush hour.
One woman whose car was struck was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Massachusetts State Police say the plane might have been trying to land at New Bedford Regional Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
In videos shot by people in passing vehicles, a torrent of black smoke could be seen billowing above Route 195 from the plane’s fuselage, which was resting on its side. Other rubble was strewn across a grassy median and nearby forest.
Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III said the people who died were pronounced dead at the scene. Quinn identified them as 68-year-old Thomas Perkins and his 66-year-old wife Agatha of Middletown, Rhode Island.
A nor’easter was whipping the area with rain and winds from 30 to 40 mph at the time of the crash, the National Weather Service said.
Story by The Associated Press
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