Police officers and firefighters work at the site where a small plane crashed in Orange County, California, the United States, on June 30, 2017. A twin-engine airplane crash-landed and burst into flames Friday morning on the 405 Freeway in Orange County, Southern California in west United States. (Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong)
LOS ANGELES, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A twin-engine airplane crash-landed and burst into flames Friday morning on the 405 Freeway in Orange County, Southern California in west U.S., and the two people on board the plane were injured.
It happened about 9:35 a.m. local time north of MacArthur Boulevard, about 300 meters from a John Wayne Airport runway and 40 miles (64 milometers) southeast of Los Angeles while the pilot was trying to return to the airport after losing one of its two engines. The two persons were being treated for major injuries, authorities said.
"I heard an explosion and saw the plane burst into flames," witness Chen Haoran told Xinhua. "There was debris all over the freeway and black smoke rose from the scene," he said.
A pickup truck was clipped by the plane as the airplane crashed onto one of the most heavily traveled freeways in U.S.. The driver of the pickup suffered only a bruised elbow, authorities said.
In the aftermath of the crash, the freeway was temporarily shut down in both directions and the airfield was closed to arrivals in about an hour, according to local media reports.
