NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating after at least one person was killed Sunday when a small plane crashed near Barefoot Resort and Golf in North Myrtle Beach.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the single-engine Piper PA-32 with four people onboard crashed at about 11 a.m. northwest of the Grand Strand Airport.
North Myrtle Beach police spokesman Pat Wilkinson said at least one person was killed and at least one person was hurt.
“Officers arrived on scene with the [fire department], observed that there was a plane on fire,” Wilkinson said. “Officers and the FD itself extinguished the fire. It was later determined shortly after that there were confirmed casualties inside the aircraft. From there, one person was transported to the hospital.”
The crash happened along Pete Dye Drive just off Gray Heron Road, according to police. Wilkinson said the NTSB will secure the area for about two days.
“Me and my brother were sitting in our living room, and all the sudden we hear this loud boom and look out the window, and we didn’t know what it was, and then people start running around everywhere, and I kinda knew it wasn’t normal, so we start running out,” said Tyler Petucci, who was staying at the Barefoot Resort & Golf Club. “We see the smoke coming from behind the house … We ran around the back of the house, and it was just engulfed in flames. No one really knew what it was at first.
Petucci said they followed the flames just outside their rental house to find out what was going on.
“We didn’t really wanna go too close because it started exploding,” he said. “And we weren’t really sure what was going on. Then, people started saying it was a plane, and they saw the plane and it was really close to hitting some of the houses.”
Count on News13 for updates.
