Several feared dead after small plane crashes into San Diego neighbourhood, homes & cars on fire

Several people are feared dead after a small private plane crashed into military housing in the southern California city of San Diego on Thursday (May 22).

"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 Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy, adding that there were no reported deaths or serious injuries among people on the ground.

“When it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down it took out every single car that was on both sides of the street. You can see that every singe car was burning down both sides of the street," Eddy added.

Eddy also said that the weather very foggy at the time the plane crashed. “You could barely see in front of you,” he said.

"The good thing that we have was we have not transported anybody off scene from any of these areas here right now," he said. “And we’re searching through to make sure that nobody’s in any of those homes,” he added.

“I can’t quite put words to describe what this scene looked like but with the jet fuel running down the streets and everything on fire all at once, it was pretty horrific to see,” Scott Wahl, San Diego Police Chief, said during the press conference.

San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo said in a statement on X that "numerous homes were lost," but that "no more people are in harm’s way at this moment."

"I pray for those who lost their lives and we will help those affected recover," he added.

In a statement on X, the San Diego Police Department urged people to avoid the area and said more information would be shared as it becomes available. The department added in a later statement that two local elementary schools were closed for the day.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration are looking into the crash.