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Two people injured as small plane crashes into bank parking lot near Chicago
By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News
A small plane crashed into the parking of a bank Wednesday near Chicago, police said. Two people were injured, and witnesses said cars in the parking lot caught on fire.
The crash occurred about 5:15 p.m. (6:15 p.m. ET) at a branch of Chase Bank near Clow International Airport in Bolingbrook, southwest of Chicago, NBC Chicago reported.
Bolingbrook police said two people, believed to be the pilot and a passenger, suffered burns as the plane struck a tree, a light pole and several vehicles before coming to rest in the parking lot. A hospital spokeswoman told NBC News that a male patient was transferred by helicopter from Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital with critical burns to Loyola Medical Center in Chicago.
Emergency crews were looking for other possible victims, and the Federal Aviation Administration was alerted, police said.
Witnesses said fire crews used retardant foam to extinguish at least two cars that were in flames. They described the plane as completely charred.
Mike Grohard, who works at a store next to the bank, said the pilot "was on fire and went down to the ground, and two gentlemen came over and put him out with their jackets."
"We got him to roll away from the plane, and as he was rolling away, [he] asked us if we could find his wife, that his wife was still in there," Grohard told NBC Chicago.
"He was pretty bad, but he was talking before the paramedics got there. We kept talking to him and tried to keep him coherent."
Another witness, Arby Rivera, told NBC Chicago he heard "an explosion, a huge explosion, a loud one."
"I heard a loud boom, and I saw this guy burning," he said. "... The people from the bank grabbed some fire extinguishers and extinguished this guy."
Ziad Jaber of NBC News contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:18 PM EDT
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