Three people have died after a small plane crashed into a highway in a city in Florida.
Footage showed the burning wreckage of the aircraft as well as a car ablaze near the crash site in Boca Raton on Friday morning.
Residents described hearing a plane which sounded ‘really loud and low’ shortly before.
The aircraft experienced ‘mechanical issues’ before falling from the sky, Michael LaSalle, assistant fire chief for Boca Fire Rescue, said at a news conference.
A motorist was injured after hitting a tree while avoiding the debris and fire.
Flight data showed the Cessna 310R propeller aircraft circling and zigzagging multiple times shortly after taking off from Boca Raton Airport at 10.15am local time.
Local police told people to ‘avoid the area’ and closed two highways as well as an overpass near the crash site.
‘The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will conduct the investigation,’ the force added. ‘We expect the road closures to remain into the foreseeable future.’
Debris was scattered across the road and an adjacent railway.
The body of one of the victims appeared to be briefly visible in early live footage from a local news helicopter.
The plane was a Cessna 310R, according to registry data from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The incident comes a day after a fatal helicopter crash in New York City.
A Spanish family of five, including three children, and the pilot were killed after the aircraft plunged into the Hudson River on Thursday.
The family were pictured smiling together moments before boarding the helicopter for a sightseeing trip.
This year has seen several high-profile air travel incidents, including the collision between an American Airlines Bombardier jet and a US Air Force helicopter in January, which killed 67 people.
The following month, 18 people were injured when another Bombardier jet overturned on landing at Toronto Pearson airport in Canada.
In March, a Boeing jet caught fire shortly after landing in Denver, with all passengers evacuated safely.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a body representing 349 airlines from 120 countries, has stressed that although the fatality rate of incidents has increased recently, accidents remain ‘extremely rare’ overall.
