All Nine People Aboard Killed as Learjet Crashes in Greenacres, Florida

Updated 21:29 UTC, Nov 1

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said all nine people on board the jet were killed, USA Today reported on Sunday afternoon. As of 4 p.m. ET, there had been no confirmation of deaths among people on the ground.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft was a Learjet 60 that crashed at about 12:50 p.m. local time on Sunday, November 1, in a residential area near Cresthaven, by Greenacres. Nine people were on board. The jet had left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas, the FAA said. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, and the safety board will lead the inquiry and provide all updates.

Flight tracking data showed the jet fell 27,000 feet in about one minute before the data cut off, CNN reported, citing ADS-B Exchange. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said all lanes of Military Trail were closed near Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, and drivers were told to avoid the area. The National Weather Service in Miami said conditions near West Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon were overcast, with rain and lightning in the area and winds from the east at 15 mph, gusting to near 25 mph, USA Today reported. No cause has been given.

The earlier report follows.

A private jet crashed in Greenacres, in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday afternoon, and authorities said there were multiple fatalities, the New York Post reported. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue described the crash as a mass casualty incident.

The crash happened shortly after 1 p.m. near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North, in the Greenacres area, on Sunday, November 1. The Palm Beach Post reported that authorities were on the scene of an incident there that had caused fires and scattered debris across a wide area, and that postings on social media showed what looked like a crater in the ground.

What the first reports say

The aircraft was believed to be a Learjet 60, a chartered private jet, the New York Post reported. It said the jet clipped a tree and brought down power lines as it came down, and that it crashed into a mobile home park, apparently demolishing at least one trailer in a fireball. Video from the scene showed an enormous crater and fire, with the wreckage of the plane and of a mobile home visible, the Post said.

The Palm Beach Post was more cautious in its first report. It said authorities had not confirmed what caused the incident, and that videos posted on social media did not show plane parts. It reported that one media report said a small plane from Boca Raton Airport had crashed into a mobile home, and that, according to Boca News Now, at least one hospital had been told the plane crash was confirmed.

What is not yet known

Officials had not said how many people were on board the chartered plane. They had also not said whether anyone on the ground was killed or injured, and no names had been released. The number of fatalities was described only as multiple.

No official cause has been given. Neither report named a federal investigation, an origin or a destination for the flight, and this article will be updated in place when authorities release those details.

Greenacres is a community of modular and mobile homes in Palm Beach County, and the crash site sits along Military Trail, a main north and south road in that part of the county. Fire crews remained on the scene on Sunday afternoon while the area was covered in debris and fires burned at the site, both papers reported.

This is a developing story. The Orbit Post is reporting only what the Palm Beach Post and the New York Post, both citing authorities and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, have confirmed, and it will add official statements from investigators as they are issued.