Plane crashes into city apartment building sparking fireball blaze killing eight in Colombia moments after takeoff
EIGHT people are confirmed to have died after a plane crashed into an apartment block in Colombia.
Footage showed thick black smoke billowing from a building in Colombia's second-biggest city Medellín after the fireball crash.
Six passengers and two crew members on board all died in the fiery smash.
The pilot is said to have reported engine failure shortly after taking off - but couldn't make it back to the Olaya Herrera Airport.
Seven homes were completely destroyed and six other buildings damaged after the aircraft smashed into them.
Horror photos from the scene show firefighters and emergency personnel sifting through the remains of the wrecked properties.
Read more world news
Miraculously, no one is believed to have been injured on the ground.
Quintero said the jet - a twin-engine Piper - was en route from Medellín to Pizarro in the neighbouring region of Chocó.
Fifteen fire engines raced to the scene to tackle the blaze.
Air accident investigators are said to be probing the cause of the crash.
Most read in News
The exact cause remains unknown.
Medellin's Mayor Daniel Quintero said: "There has been a plane accident in the Belen Rosales sector.
"The full capacity of government has been activated to assist the victims."
He added that the plane appeared to experience an "engine failure" during takeoff.
"Unfortunately, the pilot was not able to keep the plane aloft and it crashed in this neighborhood," Quintero said.
Read More on The Sun
Medellin lies in a narrow valley, surrounded by the Andes mountains.
In 2016, a plane carrying Brazil's Chapecoense football team ran out of fuel and crashed in the mountains near the city, killing 71 of the 77 people on board, including 16 players.
