[Randy Plavajka | Banner] Firefighters work to extinguish the flames caused by the crash.
A twin-engine plane crashed into a Riverside neighborhood on Monday evening, resulting in three casualties, two injuries and the destruction of two homes.
Reports of what felt like an earthquake came to the Riverside Police Department around 4:50 p.m.
The Cessna 310, en route to San Jose from Riverside Municipal Airport, was carrying five passengers – a husband, wife and three teenagers heading home from a cheerleading competition in Anaheim – when it crashed, for reasons still unknown, into the residential area in the 6000 block of Rhonda Road.
“It felt like a quick earthquake — it was like ‘boom’ and everything rattled and I walked outside shortly after and saw all the smoke and assumed it was a house on fire,” said Amy Unger, 35, who lives two streets down from the scene. “As we were walking around they were saying it was a plane that crashed.”
The plane initially clipped the first house, then crashed into the adjacent house, where flames began to engulf both the plane and surrounding houses. Two houses were destroyed and some neighboring houses received minor damage.
According to the Riverside Fire Chief Michael Moore, one person is in critical condition and currently receiving treatment at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
Moore also said one of the passengers, a teenage girl ejected from the plane and helped to safety by bystanders, survived the crash with only minor injuries and was taken to Riverside Community Hospital. During an evening news conference, Moore reported that the three casualties were passengers of the plane.
Jocelyn Campuzano, a 17-year-old student at Pomona High School, witnessed the flames after the crash.
“I saw a bunch of fire, I heard a lady screaming, ‘Help me, help me,’” Campuzano said. “I saw a bunch of smoke everywhere. I was in shock.”
This is a developing story.
