Plane crashes in Lafayette, Louisiana; death toll at 5

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A plane on Saturday crashed in an open field just west of Lafayette Regional Airport in Louisiana. According to fire officials, 5 people have died in the crash. The plane is near the Walmart at East Verot School Road and West Pinhook Road. 

The size of the plane and status of the pilot or passengers are currently unknown as reported by Associated Press. 

While the cause of a small plane crash is still under investigation, weather conditions at the time of the incident were foggy. Local officials have confirmed that there has been at least one fatality but further details are unclear at this time. The privately-owned aircraft took off just a few minutes earlier from Lafayette Regional Airport, Louisiana.

Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit told KLFY-TV that the aircraft was an eight-passenger plane. He said there was one survivor in addition to the five fatalities. Three people on the ground were transported to the hospital. The report said a nearby Walmart store was evacuated as a precaution.

Acadian Ambulance said via Twitter that it responded to the scene of a “crash of a small civilian airplane” in Lafayette and transported a total of four patients: one who was on board the aircraft and three who were on the ground. There was no immediate information released on their conditions.

Eyewitnesses told KLFY TV that lights went out at homes and businesses near the crash and that they heard something that sounded like “a semi-truck.” Several residents said they were without power. The report also said that three people on the ground were taken to hospitals.

Photos of the area where the plane crashed showed a blackened car as well as tree limbs scattered in the parking lot of a post office. The smoldering remains of the plane were resting in a field near the post office.

The Lafayette Police Department said via Twitter that local firefighters were handling the crash scene along the 300 block of Verot School Road while awaiting federal transportation authorities and asked motorists to avoid the area.

The fourth-largest city in Louisiana, Lafayette had a population of about 130,000 according to the 2018 census, and is located about 135 miles west of New Orleans.

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