Small plane crashes into mobile home park in Florida, kills pilot and one resident

The plane was a Beechcraft 35 Bonanza, a single-engine aircraft that took off from Vero Beach Regional Airport at 6:08 p.m. local time, according to FlightAware data.

It was heading to Clearwater, a city near Tampa and St. Petersburg, where it was supposed to land at the Clearwater Airpark. However, the pilot, a 62-year-old man, reported an engine failure to the air traffic control and declared a “mayday, mayday, mayday,” as the fire chief Scott Ehlers said at a press conference. The plane then veered and crashed into the Bayside Waters mobile home park, also known as Japanese Garden, around 7:15 p.m.

The crash was captured on video by some witnesses who shared it on X, a social media platform. The footage showed a thick cloud of white smoke rising from the wreckage and the flames engulfing the trailers.