A woman is dead and a man has been hospitalized after a small plane crashed into a parking lot in suburban Chicago on Wednesday.
According to The Washington Post, Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil released a statement saying that the woman was killed when the single engine plane that she was riding crashed into the parking lot outside of a bank in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
Officials believe that the plane was trying to reach Bolingbrook's Clow International Airport when the plane crashed at about 5:15 p.m. outside of a Chase Bank. Police Lt. Michael Rompa said that the plane crashed into a tree, a light pole, and three cars in the bank parking lot as it made its rapid descent, according to the Chicago Tribune.
"The plane is unrecognizable at this time," Rompa said.
The female passenger was pronounced dead at the scene and the pilot was taken to a nearby hospital with severe burn injuries.
Witness Mike Grohard told NBC Chicago that he saw the pilot emerge from the plane following the crash.
"The pilot was getting out of the plane and was on fire and went down to the ground and two gentleman came over and put him out with their jackets and we got him to roll away from the plane, and as he was rolling away, asked us if we could find his wife, that his wife was still in there," Grohard said.
The pilot was taken to nearby Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital and was then transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, according to Rompa.
Firefighters arrived on scene to find many of the cars in the parking lot on fire as well as the plane. They had the flames under control within 15 minutes.
Steve Grzanich of CBS Chicago posted a picture of the flaming wreckage to his Twitter earlier this evening.
Photos from scene of plane crash in suburban #Chicago from @SenBeatz pic.twitter.com/6OUYTxnESG
— Steve Grzanich (@SteveGrzanich) September 25, 2013