Plane Crash Kills Two
A Santee plane crash killed pilot and UPS driver, injured others and destroyed homes.
Fire crews work the scene of a small plane crash, Monday, Oct. 11, in Santee. Photo courtesy of AP News.
October 12, 2021
A plane crashed in Santee Monday around 12:15 p.m., killing two people and destroying two homes and a UPS delivery truck.
One of the victims was the UPS employee, who was confirmed dead by the company in an email statement.
Officials identified a doctor who owned the airplane and was piloting it at the time as the other casualty.
Another two victims were taken to local hospitals.
The plane was a Cessna 340A on its way to Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego from Yuma, Arizona.
I felt shaking inside of my class and a loud exploding sound.
— Donna Jean, Santana High student
The plane crashed near Santana High School in Santee. During the time of the crash, students were being released to lunch or being dismissed from school.
“So I was in school around 12:20 and it happened all so fast. I felt shaking inside of my class and a loud exploding sound,” said Donna Jean, a student at Santana High School. “Me and my boyfriend automatically left the campus because the crash was a couple of houses down from his house, and we thought it was his house from the videos and the huge cloud of smoke.”
Jean states that when she got to the scene, “There was black powder all over the floor from the fire.”
A woman on the scene also showed Jean a video of two victims being pulled out of the house. “Their hair was burnt off and their bodies were burnt and bruised in many places,” Jean said.
The students at Santana High School are completely “secure,” according to the school’s Twitter account.
The surviving victims of the crash have been hospitalized. The crash also damaged a few other homes.
The cause of the crash and the number of passengers on the plane are unknown.
