No survivors reported after airplane crashes in San Diego County
Dec 28, 2021, 5:57 AM
Wreckage of a plane crash covers a street in El Cajon, California. Photo: ONSCENE.TV
(CNN) — An airplane crashed Monday evening in the El Cajon area of Southern California, leaving no survivors, authorities said.
The Learjet was scheduled to land at a local airfield when it went down just after 7 p.m, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
Firefighters found no survivors at the scene, authorities said in a news release. They did not specify how many victims were found. No one was hurt on the ground, the sheriff’s department said in a news release. The medical examiner will investigate and identify the victims once family members have been notified.
The sheriff’s department said the plane was a Learjet, and authorities are uncertain how many people were on board, CNN affiliate KGTV reported. One home was damaged and power lines were knocked down in the area, the sheriff’s department said.
“The plane was scheduled to land at Gillespie Field in El Cajon. At this time, we do not have information on where the plane was coming from or how many were on board. Firefighters were not able to find any survivors at the crash scene,” the sheriff’s department said.
“When firefighters arrived at the scene there was significant rain occurring and there was a large debris field that stretched about 200 feet,” Lakeside Fire Protection District Chief Don Butz told CNN.
“The firefighters observed a significant fireball and smoke from the fire station — the fire station is a half a mile away from the scene,” Butz said.
The chief said a vehicle was also damaged.
There was rain in the area with breezy conditions, CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri reported. The El Cajon observation site showed light winds of 10-15 mph near the time of the crash, but gusts were much higher in the nearby foothills, peaking at 40-45 mph, Javaheri said.
Weather observations from Gillespie Field showed visibility dropped below 1 mile about 6:50 p.m., with cloud ceilings below 500 feet, which would have required the pilot to follow instrument flight rules, Javaheri noted. The conditions lasted until about 8 p.m. when visibility returned to 3 to 5 miles, he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified, and will handle the plane crash investigation, the Sheriff’s Department said.
El Cajon is about 16 miles east of San Diego.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the plane crash,” the sheriff’s department said.
The-CNN-Wire
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