All three aboard survive plane crash in US
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-14 09:21

A World War II-era cargo plane crashed and burned Monday in the middle of a street in a residential neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the USA, authorities said. All three people on board survived.

Though hospitalized, the three were "sitting up, talking on their cell phones" hours after the crash, hospital spokeswoman Maria Soldani said.

The DC-3 cargo flight en route to the Bahamas crashed about three miles east of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport shortly after takeoff, said Greg Martin, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

The remains of an Air Cargo DC-3 plane with the cockpit (R) and right engine lies on the ground after the plane crashed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, June 13, 2005.[Reuters]

Firefighters sprayed foam and water on the burning wreckage in the tree-lined neighborhood. It was not immediately clear if anyone on the ground was injured, said Capt. David Erdman of the Broward County fire-rescue service.

Pilot Charles Riggs, co-pilot Charles Wirt and passenger Hector Espinoza were listed in fair condition at Holy Cross Hospital.

Resident Jay Huber said he was in his backyard when he heard a "terrible engine noise. ... This plane was just pancaking, nose up, engines going like hell, like it was trying to stay up, and it was only about 150 feet in air."

Another witness, Mark Davis, said he watched from about a block away as the plane roared overhead, its wings clipping the treetops.

DC-3s are regarded as cheap, reliable aircraft capable of taking off from short runways.

Another Bahamas-bound cargo flight narrowly missed buildings as it crashed in December northeast of Miami. That twin-engine Convair crashed into a lake surrounded by condominiums as the pilot and co-pilot scrambled to safety.

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