Several dead as plane crashes on California neighbourhood

San Diego: Several people are feared dead after a small plane crashed onto a California neighborhood before dawn Thursday, destroying homes and setting cars on fire.

At least 10 houses were burned or hit by debris that spread over a wide area, and cars on both sides of a street went up in flames when the Cessna 550 slammed into the ground in San Diego.

“There are more than one fatality that we found so far, but we’re waiting to get the registered numbers that were on the plane itself,” said San Diego’s Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy. Footage of the immediate aftermath of the crash showed a line of burning fuel linking the flaming cars.

Eddy said “miraculously” no one on the ground had been killed or seriously hurt. Daylight revealed what a close call it had been for some people, with images showing the roof of one home blackened and collapsing.

Vehicles were twisted and charred, and several trees were burned. The smell of fuel hung in the air hours after the crash as authorities combed the area for clues.