A Romanian billionaire was among eight people killed after their plane crashed into an empty building in Milan, Italy.
Dan Petrescu, one of Romania’s billionaires, died along with his wife, son, and four of his friends and 1-year-old child.
The incident happened when a small private plane has crashed into an empty building on the outskirts of Milan in northern Italy.
All the eight people on board died, according to police.
The Italian news agency Ansa quoted the national air safety agency ANSV as saying “the plane hit the building and started burning”. It said the aircraft was a PC-12, a single-engine, executive-type plane.
Fire officials said earlier that the aircraft had crashed into the building’s facade. But following further inspection, the prosecutor said it was apparent that the plane had struck the roof.
Firefighters extinguished the flames at the badly charred and gutted building, which reportedly was under renovation.
Some witnesses say the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 was already on fire when it went down.
“I heard the sound of a plane above me as if the plane was shutting down its engine,” local man Giuseppe told Reuters news agency.
“Then I heard a very loud explosion, the windows of our house started to shake so I opened the window and saw a huge cloud of smoke rising,” he added.
Petrescu headed a major construction firm and owned a string of hypermarkets and malls. He also held Germany nationality.
