A plane crash into a California office building left one dead and at least 15 injured on Jan. 2.
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ABC 7 Los Angeles reported that the Fullerton, California crash happened shortly after 2 p.m. local time, “in the 2300 block of West Raymer Avenue, near Fullerton Municipal Airport.”
The crash at Michael Nicholas Design Factory, a home goods store, reportedly caused a four-alarm fire. A plume of black smoke was visible from aerial footage.
Police and fire authorities arrived on scene shortly after and evacuated surrounding businesses, said Kristy Wells, a Fullerton police spokesperson.
Nine of the injured victims were taken to a local hospital and the remaining six were treated at the scene, ABC 7 reported.
Details about the death and the cause of the crash are not immediately available. NBC Los Angeles reported that “it was not immediately clear whether the [deceased] victim was on the plane or inside the building.”
Police lateridentified the plane as a home-built Van’s Aircraft RV-10 with seating for four people. “The pilot appeared to be returning to the airport after takeoff, police said. It was not clear how many people were onboard the plane,” NBC Los Angeles reported.
“People are just shaken over the situation,” said a witness, per NBC Los Angeles. “It was just a large boom, and then one of the people went out and said, ‘Oh my gosh, the building’s on fire.'”
2024 ended as the deadliest year for worldwide air travel since 2018, with 318 total fatalities, according to Bloomberg.
Last Wednesday, an Azerbaijani passenger plane crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. And in South Korea on Sunday, a Jeju Air flight crashed into a concrete barrier at the end of a runway, leading to 179 fatalities.