Milan Plane Crash: Eight dead as private jet hits empty office building

Eight passengers were killed after the private plane they were aboard crashed in an empty office block in Italiian city of Milan. In the aftermath, the police released a complete list of passengers which also included pilot Dan Petrescu, a Romanian billionaire who died immediately along with his wife and children. Later, New York TImes reported that victims encompassed three Romanian, two French, one Italian and one Canadian citizen. Notably, most of them held dual citizenship. 

The plane, which was bound for Sardinia, was registered to the Romanian government. As per the eyewitnesses, no one on ground was injured and that the aircraft only put some cars on fire. Authorities immediately cordoned off the area and emptied the street nearby. The cause of the incident is not known as of now but an investigation has been launched. 

Black Box retreived 

Meanwhile, Italy’s air traffic controller, ENAV, said it lost radio and radar contact with the plane a few minutes after it took off from Milan’s Linate Airport. Additionally, public prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano told reporters that the plane also did not send out an alarm. Notably, the Black Box carrying the recordings of the flight communications has been retrieved and is touted to help the probe. Carlo Cardinali, a Milan fire official, said as of late afternoon only one body had been located. He said the aircraft crashed into the building's facade. "The impact was devastating,'' Cardinali was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

(With inputs from AP )

(All images: AP)