Light plane hits LA building

The plane nosedived into the building

A small aircraft has crashed into a residential building in Los Angeles, killing the pilot and one other person, according to fire officials.

The three-storey building in the Fairfax district of the city burst into flames, after a single-engined Beech Bonanza plane plunged into it at about 1555 (2355GMT) on Friday.

"We have found a second body and seven people have been transported to hospital," said Los Angeles Fire Department Deputy Chief Mario Rueda.

Eyewitnesses said the plane appeared to lose power before plummeting into the building - but the cause of the crash is still unknown.

"I looked up and saw the plane just do a nosedive," local resident Aaron Hooker told KABC-TV.

"It didn't seem real."

Massive fire

The impact started a powerful blaze, as the plane crashed through all three floors of the building.

The building was half-gutted

Petrol from cars parked in the basement combined with fuel in the aircraft to create a ferocious fire.

One of the injured suffered 25% burns on his body, said a fire official.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control within half-an-hour.

There were reportedly 14 flats in the building, which was left half-gutted.

"People were jumping out of the windows, landing on concrete. Others were grabbing their animals. It was chaos," one eyewitness told the AFP news agency.

A Federal Aviation Authority spokesman said the plane had taken off from nearby Santa Monica airport about 10 minutes before the crash.

It was not known how many people were on board the plane.

A fire department spokesman said that it was "very lucky" that the scale of injuries was not much larger.

The plane crashed only one block away from playing fields belonging to Fairfax High School.