A small experimental plane burst in flames as it crashed into a supermarket at a Florida shopping center on Monday evening, leaving five people injured and sending frightened shoppers running for their lives away from the complex, authorities reported. A number of people in the Northgate Shopping Center in DeLand called the police around 7:20 p.m. to report that an aircraft had dived into the complex, Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said. Callers reported that the plane showed signs of danger moments before it hit the roof of the supermarket.
“A twin-engine experiment aircraft has crashed into the roof of the Publix supermarket,” DeLand Police Sergeant Chris Estes reported to the Associated Press. Estes said the plane had taken off from a nearby municipal airport in DeLand, which is about 20 miles west of Daytona Beach. Of the five injured, three people suffered severe burns and two had moderate burns, but it is unspecified who on the ground or on the aircraft were injured.
