The small plane crashed into a Florida strip mall MESSAGE BOARD: Air safety

September 3, 1999
Web posted at: 9:16 a.m. EDT (1316 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- A small ambulance plane flying from Pontiac, Michigan, to Boca Raton, Florida, crashed into a strip mall early Friday while attempting to make an emergency landing in West Palm Beach, killing at least four people on board.

Authorities were unsure whether any of the people on board were patients.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, a twin- engine Beechcraft King Air BE-90, hit the roof of a building in the mall about 3:30 a.m.

It was an ambulance flight, "like airplanes, they actually charter to move a patient," said Jorge Prellezo, regional director of the National Transportation Safety Board in Miami. A small fire broke out following the crash, he said.

"The landing gear from the aircraft is inside one of the buildings," Capt. Nigel Baker of Palm Beach Fire Rescue told WFOR-TV in Miami.

The plane took off from Pontiac, heading for Boca Raton. But, after the pilot reported problems, the plane was diverted, according to the station.

Prellezo said the pilot asked permission to land at West Palm Beach, about 30 miles north of Boca Raton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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