Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN
These images show the Air Force plane which has crashed into a garden wall just a few feet from a house as the pilot was trying to land at an airport.
The accident took place in the neighbourhood of Bosques de la Paz in the town of Ilopango in the San Salvador department in west-central El Salvador and local media report pilot Roberto Guillermo Castro Martinez and co-pilot Nelson Ivan Saldana Alfaro died in the collision.
The victims reportedly belonged to the Air Force and were trying to land at the Ilopango International Airport. The pilot is said to have had 17 years of flying experience and the cause of the crash remains unclear.
Images shows how the plane crashed into the garden wall which then collapsed, breaking a window.
The Ministry of Defence of El Salvador has confirmed through a public statement on social media that the plane was a T-35 PILLAN with licence plate FAS 74 and no people who lived in the house were injured.
Reports claim that some witnesses told local authorities that they first heard the noise of the engine as if it was about to fail and then they saw the plane falling fast and crashing against a tree before hitting the wall.
An unnamed onlooker told local media: “ We heard a noise and then it fell. A lot of dust went into the air when it crashed. There was nobody in the house, only a dog but it is alive.”
The Minister of Defence Rene Francis Merin went to the scene along with the emergency services and several captains from the army to help coordinate the recovery of the victims’ bodies.
Reports said that the emergency services had difficulties to retrieve the bodies because they were stuck among the wreck.
The Army have confirmed they have launched an official investigation to determined the cause of the accident.
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