July 30, 2010  Print Email | Four killed in Ecuador plane crash
Fog causes disaster
Posted by Agencies at 08:31 AM GMT on Mar 20, 2009 | QUITO (REUTERS): An Ecuadorean military plane crashed into two buildings yesterday in the fog-bound capital city Quito, killing at least four people, authorities said.
Defence minister Javier Ponce said the three military personnel aboard the Beechcraft plane died in the crash and one other person was killed on the ground.
Emergency officials on the site said the plane hit two buildings in a wealthy neighbourhood in the northern sector of the city before it crashed in a backyard.
"I felt an explosion when I opened the frontdoor and then heard a loud sound before we raced out," said Elena Morocho, a maid in a home near the crash site.
The plane crashed near a hotel and the US ambassador's residence in the city. A US embassy spokeswoman said the ambassador was unharmed.
Fog often causes aviation difficulties and delays in the Andean mountain city. In the last two decades several planes have crashed in the hilly, Gonzalez Suarez neighbourhood that stands on the path of planes landing in the capital.
In September last year, a passenger plane carrying more than 60 people skidded off a runway and crashed through a brick perimeter wall before stopping near a busy road in Quito, but no one was seriously hurt .
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