LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — A fire official says 5 people are dead after a small plane crash in southern 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 two patients to a local hospital.
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.
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 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.
