Dramatic video captures the moment when survivors run from the burning wreckage of a small plane that crashed on Interstate 75 in Florida.
At around 3:15 p.m. on Friday afternoon, drivers on the busy highway were shocked when the Bombardier Challenger 600 series jet made a crash landing as a result of engine failure mere minutes before it would have reached the runway at Naples Airport in Collier County, colliding with a vehicle and bursting into flames.
Three of the five passengers who were onboard the aircraft are seen running for their lives in the cellphone video that was shared with a local news outlet and has since gone viral on social media.
Tonight on @NBCNightlyNews
New video from the deadly jet crash along I-75 in Collier County, FL.Hear from the man who raced over to help as what looks like survivors run away from the wreckage. pic.twitter.com/ydPmpamXt3
— George Solis (@GeorgeSolis) February 10, 2024
In the video, Kyle Cavaliere who was a motorist when the plane went down is heard shouting at the trio who were fleeing the wreckage, “Is there anybody else in there?”
“Yes! Our pilots! Our pilots!” a woman is heard shouting, when asked if they were alive, the woman said “I don’t know. I don’t know much else.”
The survivors were taken to a hospital where they were treated for their injuries. Two other people who were onboard the plane weren’t so lucky.
The pilot and co-pilot were killed. They were identified as 50-year-old Edward Daniel Murphy and 65-year-old Frederick Hofmann, both men are from Florida.
The three who miraculously survived the crash are 23-year-old crew member Sydney Ann Bosmans of Jupiter, FL and two passengers. 35-year-old Aaron Baker and 23-year-old Audra Green of Columbus, OH.
The doomed flight had taken off from Ohio State University Airport in Columbus, OH shortly after 1:00 p.m. and was scheduled to land in Naples before continuing on to Fort Lauderdale.
In audio of the fateful final moments, Murphy who was the pilot told an airport controller that the plane “was not going to make the runway” after it lost both engines.
More footage of the tragic crash was posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
BREAKING: Report says a business Jet has crashed on I-75 near Naples, Florida: It is said to be a Bombardier Challenger 604 capable of carrying 10-12 passengers.pic.twitter.com/Mjqhl6W5Js
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) February 9, 2024
Watch: A private jet crashes on I-75 in Naples, Florida going up in flames.
pic.twitter.com/jErLwjKBau— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) February 10, 2024
#BREAKING: A private jet has crashed on interstate I-75 bursting into flames
Numerous firefighters and other emergency crews are on the scene after a 2004 Challenger 600 jet with the tail number N823KD, operated by a charter company called Hop-A-Jet,… pic.twitter.com/0VejgA8FxZ
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 9, 2024
BREAKING: Business jet crashes on I-75 in Naples, Florida
— Wesley (@movienumberfact) February 9, 2024
One eyewitness recounted the horrific scene to Local 10 News.
“It looked like it was broken in half from the impact, fully engulfed in flames, dark black smoke,” said Gary Elsinger who was with his son when the plane went down. “My son says, ‘Oh I just saw an explosion.’ I thought it was probably a car accident, as we got closer, we’re like, wait a minute is that a plane?”’
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