'Like a missile coming down': Private jet explodes into a fireball as it crashes in busy Florida neighborhood — see photos from the scene

A private business jet crashed in a neighborhood in southern Florida on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 1), killing all nine people on board, officials said. The crash occurred near Cresthaven, roughly nine miles from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's resort in the posh enclave of Palm Beach County, around 1 pm. The plane, a Learjet 60, had taken off from Austin, Texas, and was headed to the Bahamas, according to the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has since launched an investigation into the crash.

Crash causes deep crater in road

Images from the scene of the crash show a deep crater in the middle of a busy road, with patches of burning fire and pieces of concrete and debris from the aircraft scattered.

According to air traffic control audio from moments before the crash, the pilot had declared an emergency, saying: "We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute," CBS reported. "We're gonna crash...We're out of time," the pilot said.

A video that is being circulated on social media shows what appears to be a dash cam recording of the moment the jet went down. It shows the aircraft nosediving almost vertically into the ground with lightning speed before exploding into a massive fireball.


"When you see that video, it's a jarring thing," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference after the crash.

"It's like a missile coming down, and a massive explosion, debris going everywhere," DeSantis told reporters. Officials have not yet revealed the identified of those who were on board the jet, linked to business based in Delaware. There were no reports of "anyone who was on the ground...who was killed or injured," the governor said.

Hundreds of residents evacuated

Local officials said that 600 residents were being evacuated from a nearby trailer park community.

The crash also caused significant damage to local infrastructure, including water lines, the officials added. Thunderstorms had struck the area around the time of the crash, and it was heavily raining when the news conference was held.

The crash marks the second deadliest aviation incident in the US this year. In June, a skydiving jet crashed in Butler city of Missouri, killing 12 people.