Plane crashes near Houston on way to Boston baseball game and all 21 aboard make it out alive
A plane apparently en route to a baseball game in Boston crashed in a field near Houston, Texas, and all 21 people on board reportedly escaped alive.
The 21 people, including 18 passengers and three crew members, made it out of the aircraft safely, said Waller County Sheriff Troy Guidry after the mid-morning crash. The youngest person on the plane was 10 years old.
Two people were transported to the hospital and no one was killed, according to Guidry.
Black smoke was seen billowing from the field around the site of the crash.
Waller County Judge Trey Duhon wrote on Facebook: ‘The information we have at this time indicates that the plane did not attain altitude at the end of the runway and went across Morton Road, coming to a rest in the field just north of the airport, where it caught on fire.’
One person experienced back pain, according to Duhon.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane tore through a fence and caught aflame as it tried to depart an executive airport shortly after 10am local time. The FAA confirmed that all passengers and crew safely exited the aircraft, which it has identified as a McDonnell Douglas MD-87.
The plane was registered under J Alan Kent, who is the owner and CEO of Houston-based custom homebuilder Flair Builders, according to ABC13.
Flair Builders confirmed to ABC13 that Kent was aboard the plane at the time of the crash.
The plane was heading to Boston for the AL Championship series game between the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros, two sources told ABC13.
An investigation on the crash is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The CenterPoint Energy utility company said plane took out an overhead powerline that briefly caused an outage for more than 1,800 customers. It was not immediately known if the powerline contributed to the plane crash.
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