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One Killed, Two Hurt As Small Plane Hits Richmond, B.C., Apartment Building

Posted on: Saturday, 20 October 2007, 03:00 CDT

By Camille Bains, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - A small plane on a short hop to a suburban airport crashed into an apartment building Friday, killing the pilot, injuring two others in the building and leaving witnesses on the ground in shock.

A shaken Crystal Mason said she was driving with her husband and young son when she saw the plane flying erratically and then heard a bang. "I knew it was in trouble. It was going way too fast. The minute I saw it in the air before it was doing any kind of funny turn it was going way too fast," said Mason, as she stood in the rain a few blocks from the crash site.

"I knew it was going to crash. I really did. I knew it was going to crash. My thing was, 'My God, we're in downtown Richmond, where's it crashing? How many people are around? How many people are going to get injured? What's happening?"

Mason, 28, said she feared there might be an explosion when the plane hit, adding what she saw will stay with her for a long time.

A spokeswoman for the B.C. Ambulance Service said the two residents of the ninth-floor apartment were taken to hospital, one of them with serious injuries.

Christy Hillen said two people were taken to hospital, one likely with "significant and serious injuries."

Police have not released any names.

RCMP said crews had to work to extricate the dead man from the aircraft.

Corp. Nycki Basra said some other people were being treated at the scene of the crash, but she didn't have details on their injuries.

Hillen said the ambulance service deployed significant resources and was standing by at the scene.

Fire crews evacuated the 15-storey apartment building and people reported smelling aviation fuel, but there was no fire after the crash and police said later the threat had been neutralized.

Police threw up a perimeter around the crash scene near one of Richmond's busiest intersections at the height of rush hour as curious residents stared up at a gaping hole in the building where the plane crashed.

Airport officials say the plane had taken off from Vancouver International Airport on a flight to Pitt Meadows just east of the city when it crashed.

Kate Dongani, an official with the Vancouver airport, confirmed the twin-engine Piper Seneca aircraft left Vancouver International Airport headed to the Fraser Valley community of Pitt Meadows.

It apparently ran into trouble soon after takeoff and punched a hole into the north side of the Rosario Gardens apartment block just east of the airport.

The building and those around it were evacuated. Basra said only one unit sustained structural damage but no other residents were being allowed back into the building for the time being.

Vladimir Knat, who lives near the crash site, said he heard the plane making an odd sound before he heard a loud noise.

The plane crash left all the windows of one suite smashed in. No part of the airplane was visible.

Tara Barazandehpay said her friend Linda Liu lives in the building and got off work early Friday to go shopping at a nearby mall instead of going home around the time the plane hit the complex.

Barazandehpay said she immediately thought of her friend when she heard about the crash and was relieved to learn the woman hadn't gone home.

"She is lucky, honestly. I'm so thankful to God. You just don't know what's going to happen."

The Piper Seneca is a twin-engine propeller-driven light aircraft capable of carrying five passengers and a pilot on journeys of up to 1,800 kilometres.

Dr. Jas Bhopal, who has an office on the ground floor of the building, said he saw a distressed woman screaming in Chinese from the gaping hole left in the building by the plane.

Bhopal said he was on the telephone when the plane hit.

"I heard a sudden bang. I got the shock of my life. I thought maybe a car had gone down the lane and hit the building."

He said he saw a strip of aluminum fall from above.

Rick Eng, whose apartment building is kitty-corner from the crash site, said the commotion at first prompted him to think there was a suicide attempt underway.

Eng said residents have been concerned for some time about low-flying small aircraft going to and from nearby Vancouver International Airport.

"There's a couple of times there's a plane flying right above our buildings," he told The Canadian Press.

"They're a little bit too low. I'm kind of wondering, is it necessary?"

Source: Canadian Press

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