Plane crashes into house, child among the dead

Three passengers of a small plane died when it crashed into a house in Plainville, southwest of Boston, AP reported, citing the Patria news agency.

The Massachusetts state police said that two adults and one minor from the plane lost their lives in the accident on Sunday evening. The aircraft, a Beechcraft BE36, took off from Lancaster Airport in Pennsylvania and was supposed to land at Norwood Memorial Airport in Massachusetts.

Federal Aviation Administration representative Jim Peters said the plane crashed into a two-story house around six p.m. local time. The family living in the house managed to escape in time after a fire engulfed the building, police said.

Fire crews at the scene are trying to extinguish the fire three hours after the accident, said Massachusetts State Police spokesperson Dave Procopio. According to neighbors who spoke to the Boston Globe, a family of four lived in the house.

One of them, Mike Brown, told the Sun Chronicle that he was in front of his house grilling when he heard the sound of the plane, looked up, and saw it begin to descend.

Brown added that he heard the engine sputtering and a crash, and then saw smoke. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to visit the crash site during the day. The identities of the deceased will not be released until the agency notifies their families, Peters said.