Plane crash in Texas kills 10 people

All ten people on board a small plane were killed in a fiery crash Sunday morning when the aircraft struggled to gain altitude after taking off from a suburban Dallas airport, veered to one side and plunged into a hangar, local authorities and witnesses said.

Federal officials said two crew members and eight passengers were killed when the twin-engine plane, scheduled to fly to St. Petersburg, Florida, crashed at the Addison Municipal Airport at 9:11 a.m. The identities of those killed were not immediately released.

"We don't know a lot about the people on board at this point," National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said.

Officials say the Beechcraft BE-350 King Air hit a hangar that then burst into flames with black smoke billowing from the building as firefighters sprayed it with water.

A plane and helicopter in the hangar were damaged, but there were no people in the building.

The crash left a gaping hole in the hangar, which sits not far from a busy commercial strip and densely populated residential neighborhoods of the northern suburb of Dallas.

Edward Martelle, a spokesman for the town of Addison, said the plane was taking off

Air traffic control tower audio from around the time of the crash does not capture any pilot indicating an emergency or trouble with a plane.

But pilots waiting to take off soon thereafter can be heard seeking updates and being told repeatedly to wait.

"Everybody just stand by," a controller said.

"We had an accident on the field, so expect not to go out anytime soon."

Dallas County was helping the city of Addison set up a family assistance center for people affected by the crash, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. The center is staffed with chaplains, counselors and other mental health and support workers, he said.

"It's a horrible, sad, shocking thing to lose a family member like this," Jenkins told The Associated Press.

"So we're doing whatever we can to comfort them."

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