Two deaths have been confirmed after a plane crashed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The plane crashed around 5 p.m. on Dec. 25 in the backyards of some Sioux Falls residents.
Captain Loren McManus of the South Dakota Police Department (SDPD) confirmed the second death on Dec. 26 in an interview with The Epoch Times.
According to public records, Vaughn, a plastic surgeon, was the owner of the 1980 Beechcraft 58P involved in the crash. He was also a licensed pilot, reported the Argus Leader.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been contacted and two of their contracted companies will now work to collect the wreckage, although the collection date is yet to be confirmed. A team of SDPD officers will monitor the wreckage until they receive further instructions from the NTSB.Ball of Fire on Christmas Day
When Sioux Falls Fire Rescue (SFFR) arrived on the scene, they immediately saw “heavy smoke, intense heat, and flames coming from the backyard of 4209 and 4213 South Birchwood Avenue,” according to the SDPD’s press release on Dec. 26.“The whole ground just shook ... something had crashed; I didn’t know if it was a car ... but as we got closer it looked like it was a plane—it looked like a plane that probably crashed in my neighbors backyard.”
Other families like Kimberly Bechtold-Erickson’s were enjoying pie and coffee after their Christmas dinner when they heard the plane’s loud engine approaching.
“Just at that time, we felt the house shake and heard a loud explosion and the entire view from the window was filled [with] flames from a fireball,” Bechtold-Erickson said in an interview with The Epoch Times.
After hearing the loud crash, some family members thought it sounded like a plane nose-diving but Kimberly didn’t expect that this was really what had happened. Unsure of what the explosion meant for their neighbors, the family immediately ran outside to see if anyone needed help.
Damage from the Crash
The SFFR were able to quickly contain the most intense parts of the fire and then started to make their way into four properties on which the plane had landed to evacuate any people still inside. Fortunately, the families in all the affected homes were able to escape immediately.Both homes 4209 and 4213 sustained some structural damage, and light to moderate fire damage but no bystanders or firefighters were hurt during the incident.
The next morning on Dec. 26, McManus said that the two families of the homes that sustained structural damage have yet to return to their respective property.
This is the second fatal plane crash this year in South Dakota.
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