Airplane crashes into downtown Anchorage, sparks blazing inferno

Anchorage, Alaska: A small plane crashed into an office building in downtown Anchorage early on Tuesday morning, killing one occupant.

National Transportation Safety Board Alaska office chief Clint Johnson said the plane, which he believed was a Cessna 172 or 180, was registered to the Civil Air Patrol.

Karen Bowen, a bookkeeper who answered the phone at the Civil Air Patrol office, relayed comments from the group's commander that the crash is under investigation. Neither agency would release additional details on Demarest or the crash. Sierra Leone, the third West African country to be hammered by the epidemic, was declared free on November 7.

Hettrick said the crash occurred amid light wind gusts and scattered showers about six hours before dawn in Alaska's largest city, which gets only about five hours of daylight at this time of year. The downtown plane crash happened in an area that is densely populated during the day in Anchorage.

Johnson says there were blustery winds when the plane clipped the corner of an office building and then crashed into the side of an adjacent commercial building.

Crews responded quickly and had the blaze under control, said Don Tallman of the Anchorage Fire Department.

A witness who saw a small plane seconds before it slammed into a building in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, said the aircraft didn't sound like it was having engine trouble.

The building houses offices of the state departments of Law and Corrections and the district attorney's office. "I said to myself, 'It's not good weather to be flying in'".

"We heard a noise - a loud "whooshing" noise - didn't know what it was", Vince Maiorano, a cook at the downtown eatery said.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker was on the scene shortly before 8 a.m.

Mr Boyd said the aircraft struck an electrical transformer on the outside of a building as it crashed, which forced authorities to shut down power to the area.

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