The Tokyo Fire Department reported on Sunday that a few moments after an airplane departed from an airfield, it crashed in a suburban area in Tokyo. One man and two women were immediately reported dead after the accident. According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, the plane landed in the residential area of Chofu, CNN reported.
Tokyo Fire Department spokesman Teruaki Seki confirmed that the pilot, one of the four passengers and a woman from the house where the plane landed are the three reported dead. There were also two people on the ground and three of the four passengers with injuries who were brought to hospitals. Hideaki Kobayashi, the Tokyo metropolitan government official in charge of the Chofu Airport, said that the plane used for aviation training and other activity was operated by a private company. The PA-46 Mirage Plane by Piper Aircraft was headed to Izu Oshima Island, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Tokyo over the Pacific Ocean.
An investigation regarding the crash which impacted the neighborhood in the area is being conducted by the authorities.
"I ran upstairs, then I saw the house just over there on fire, with a tail of the plane sticking out of it," said Minako Akiyama, a resident in the neighborhood of the accident site, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Three houses and two cars were set on fire, and roofs of nearby houses were damaged by the plane crash that took place around 11 a.m. local time.
"First, I thought a large truck had crashed into a neighboring house as I heard the rumbling of the earth. I then saw ferocious smoke," said one woman who saw the crash, according to Japan Today
Japan Today also reported that an 80-year old woman said, "This place is close to the airport but I'm surprised because I had never thought that an airplane would crash."
Professional negligence is one of the reasons being cited for the incident which claimed three lives and damaged at least three houses and two cars, according to Japan Today.
The video footage below shows the devastation brought about by the plane crash.
