<p class="title rtejustify">A ghastly sight of a burning body greeted local residents as they ran out of their houses after a chartered plane crashed in suburban Ghatkopar this afternoon.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The explosions following the crash and flames leaping in the air were so huge that initially, we could not understand what had happened," said Prakash S Giri, who lives opposite the construction site where the 12-seater plane crashed.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The toll could have been higher had the plane hit any of the high-rises around the spot," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The pilot did not let this happen. I think the pilot purposefully manoeuvred the plane to this site to avoid casualties," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"There was a very loud explosion. Smoke and flames engulfed the area in the 50-metre radius, leaving us clueless as to what had happened," Giri said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"We were having lunch when we heard the first explosion. We immediately rushed out..... saw a burning body near the crash spot. We tried to save the man but the flames had engulfed him so completely that we found ourselves helpless," he said, recounting the horror.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Another local resident said after the crash, there were four-five more explosions.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">A man living on the third floor of a nearby building jumped out from the balcony after the crash, fearing that his building was going to collapse, one of the eye-witnesses said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">But the incident could not be confirmed independently.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">According to police, five persons were killed in the crash, namely, two pilots and two aircraft maintenance engineers on board, and a pedestrian.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The plane, which crashed in the Jagruti Nagar locality of the crowded Ghatkopar shortly after 1 pm, was a King Air C90 12-seater aircraft. It had taken off from the Juhu airstrip on a test flight. </p>
<p class="title rtejustify">A ghastly sight of a burning body greeted local residents as they ran out of their houses after a chartered plane crashed in suburban Ghatkopar this afternoon.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The explosions following the crash and flames leaping in the air were so huge that initially, we could not understand what had happened," said Prakash S Giri, who lives opposite the construction site where the 12-seater plane crashed.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The toll could have been higher had the plane hit any of the high-rises around the spot," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"The pilot did not let this happen. I think the pilot purposefully manoeuvred the plane to this site to avoid casualties," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"There was a very loud explosion. Smoke and flames engulfed the area in the 50-metre radius, leaving us clueless as to what had happened," Giri said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">"We were having lunch when we heard the first explosion. We immediately rushed out..... saw a burning body near the crash spot. We tried to save the man but the flames had engulfed him so completely that we found ourselves helpless," he said, recounting the horror.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">Another local resident said after the crash, there were four-five more explosions.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">A man living on the third floor of a nearby building jumped out from the balcony after the crash, fearing that his building was going to collapse, one of the eye-witnesses said.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">But the incident could not be confirmed independently.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">According to police, five persons were killed in the crash, namely, two pilots and two aircraft maintenance engineers on board, and a pedestrian.</p>.<p class="bodytext rtejustify">The plane, which crashed in the Jagruti Nagar locality of the crowded Ghatkopar shortly after 1 pm, was a King Air C90 12-seater aircraft. It had taken off from the Juhu airstrip on a test flight. </p>