Plane Hits LA Apartment Building, 10 Hurt

Tuesday, June 3, 2003
(7:49 PM)
By Robert Jablon
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES, Ca. -- AP
A small plane nosedived into an apartment complex Friday, setting the three-story building ablaze and injuring 10 people.

Five of the victims were critically injured, said Fire Department Battalion Chief Bob Franco.

Witnesses saw the plane plunge into the Fairfax district building about 3:50 p.m.

``I looked up and saw the plane just do a nosedive,'' area resident Aaron Hooker told KABC-TV. ``It didn't seem real.''

The building, which had about 30 units. burned fiercely at first, but firefighters had the blaze under control in about a half-hour.

The origin of the plane was not known. A Federal Aviation Administration duty officer said she knew only that a small plane had crashed.

Television cameraman Adam Krolfifer of High Point, N.C., was in line waiting to see a taping of ``The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn'' when he heard a plane overhead.

``We were waiting at CBS Studios. I heard a plane, like he was doing acrobatic moves. About four minutes later, we saw a huge plume of black smoke,'' said Krolfifer, who works for WGHP and was in Los Angeles on vacation.

``It sounded like it was making maneuvers, the engine getting stressed out,'' he said.
(Source: Netscape Network News)
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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan