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New details have emerged after two people were killed and four others injured when a twin-engine plane with three people aboard crashed into a two-story home near a public-access airport in the area, igniting a fire in the house.
First reports of the incident in Dutchess County came at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17.
The plane, identified by the FAA as a Cessna 303, departed from Orange County Airport and stopped to refuel at Sky Acres, which is located in the Town of Union Vale.
It was leaving Sky Acres en route to Republic Airport, located in East Farmingdale in Nassau County, when it crashed into a house on South Smith Road, about a mile south of the airport, just east of the Taconic State Parkway.
Earlier reports had said the plane had departed from Republic Airport.
The plane experienced some sort of engine trouble before it struck the side of the house, according to authorities. The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
One of three men in the plane, the pilot, was killed, state police said. The two passengers suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to police.
A person in the house where a father and two daughters were reportedly at home at the time of the crash died from injuries. The father is the person who is unaccounted. Another person in the home, one of the daughters, managed to escape and was uninjured.
The identities of those who died have not yet been released.
Hundreds of emergency responders rushed to the scene, with fire trucks, ambulances and state and local police vehicles throughout the area, and numerous road closures in the area Saturday afternoon and evening.
“We pray for all those involved in the plane crash," Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said in a statement.
Molinaro said Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response, the Union Vale Fire Department, along with multiple other agencies rushed to the scene and "we are grateful to all of our local first responders here at the site and those providing support."
"Many of these men and women expected to be in Red Hook celebrating the annual tradition of the Dutchess County Volunteer Firemen’s Association County Convention Parade," Molinaro said. "Instead, they once again answer the call of duty. We pray for their safety as they respond to this critical event.”
This continues to be a developing story. Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
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