Nine dead in Learjet plane crash near Trump’s Florida home

• Nine people died when a Learjet 60 crashed in southern Florida near Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s home, after flying from Austin, Texas to the Bahamas.
• Witness clips showed the plane falling almost vertically, causing a large fireball and a burning crater near a busy road.
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called it a “horrific tragedy”; the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with storms reported in the area.

WASHINGTON - Nine people were killed on Nov 1 when the Learjet they were travelling in plummeted into a neighbourhood in southern Florida, just miles from US President Donald Trump’s resort home of Mar-a-Lago, officials said.

Several unverified clips depicting the deadly crash and posted to social media show an aircraft nearly vertical slamming at high speed into the ground and triggering a large fireball, leaving a flaming crater near a busy roadside.

“Today’s plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida is a horrific tragedy,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement, confirming that all nine people on board were killed.

Duffy said the plane, a Learjet 60, had departed from Austin, Texas and was headed for the Bahamas.

The crash occurred near Cresthaven, a neighbourhood in Palm Beach County that is less than 11km from Mar-a-Lago.

Trump himself had been at Mar-a-Lago on Nov 1 and had departed from the nearby and newly renamed President Donald J Trump International Airport shortly after he boarded Air Force One at 11.55am, about an hour before the crash of the Learjet aircraft.

Storms had been reported in the area, and Trump carried an umbrella as he boarded Air Force One.

“The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate,” the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. AFP