5 Die in Alaska Plane Crash
A commuter airplane lost power in one of its two engines on takeoff today and crashed into a residential area about half a mile from the runway at Kenai Airport, killing five of the seven people on board, authorities said.
Kenai Police Sgt. Roger Dorcas said two passengers escaped the wreckage of the flight, which was bound for Anchorage. Four passengers and the pilot were reported killed.
A hospital spokesman in nearby Soldotna said Donald Spurgeon, 40, is in guarded condition with burns. No information was released on the other patient.
Witnesses said the plane was wedged in the back of a house, upside down, and the house was on fire. Two elderly people in the house at the time of the crash escaped injury.
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