Small plane crashes into New Jersey residential area, pilot dead

WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP, the United States - A small plane crashed into a residential area in Woodbridge Township, US state of New Jersey, on Tuesday, setting fire to three houses and killing its pilot, authorities said.

A Cessna 414, a twin-engine, eight-seat transport aircraft, crashed into a house in Colonia, a community located within Woodbridge Township, at 11 am local time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement on Twitter.

The pilot, the sole occupant of the plane, was killed in the crash, according to a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Mayor of Woodbridge Township John McCormac told reporters that authorities do not believe any civilians on the ground were impacted or injured by the crash.

Nobody was in the house when the plane hit it, McCormac told Xinhua.

The house was on fire and completely destroyed and two other houses nearby also caught fire.

One person was in one of the houses but managed to escape and the fires had been quickly brought under control, McCormac said.

Though the mayor could not say for sure what had caused the crash, he pointed out "weather probably had something to do with it."

A resident who identified herself as Amanda told Xinhua that the crash sounded like "a huge explosion."

"My father-in-law who was inside at the time said it sounded like a plane going at full throttle right before the crash and that it shook the house so badly he thought it had hit our house," she said.

NTSB investigators are on the crash site, a reportedly heavy residential area with tree-lined streets. They will determine probable cause of the incident and brief the media.

Colonia is about 50 km southwest of downtown New York City.