A small plane that crashed on Saturday (05.14.2022) on one of the access bridges to Miami-Beach, in Florida, United States, hitting one of the cars that were circulating, leaving one person dead and five injured, two of them in critical condition, authorities confirmed.
Although initially the authorities reported only six injured as a result of the incident, in a press conference the Miami-Dade Police communication department confirmed that one person died.
Authorities said two of the injured are in critical condition. The critically injured were transported to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, while the others were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
aircraft caught fire
“Three rescuers from the Miami-Dade Fire Department began to help patients while the plane was on fire, in addition to a vehicle that was hit by the plane,” said Erika Benítez, a spokeswoman for the fire department.
According to official information, one of the vehicles that was traveling past noon on Saturday over the bridge was hit head-on by the plane.
In that vehicle were a woman and two young children who are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police added.
The single-engine plane caught fire leaving a column of black smoke, which attracted the attention, along with the sound of the impact, of passers-by and bathers in the area who took pictures of the incident with their phones.
After putting out the fire, firefighters reported that the pertinent measures were taken in the face of the fuel spill.
Images broadcast on the local television portal NBC6, apparently taken from a mobile phone, showed the device engulfed in flames while a dozen drivers passing through the area got out of their cars, visibly scared.
Appliance lost power
The incident occurred on the Haulover Inlet Bridge, one of the bridges that connect to the island of Miami Beach, authorities confirmed. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the aircraft was a single-engine Cessna 172 that lost power before crashing on the bridge, about 5 miles (8 km) east of Opa-Locka airport, after noon. .
Three people were on board the device, picked up by Local channel 10 without any news of their identity.
According to the FAA, the plane had departed from Fort Lauderdale International Airport (north of Miami) and was heading to Key West International Airport when the accident occurred.
jc (efe, NBC 6 South Florida, El Nuevo Herald, Telemundo 51)