Small Plane Crashes Into Crowd, Killing 3

Three people, including a child, were killed and several others were injured when a light aircraft crashed into a group of onlookers in the German state of Hesse on Sunday, police said.

The incident happened around 3.45 p.m. local time (9.45 a.m. EDT) at the Wasserkuppe plateau in the Rhön mountain region near the town of Fulda, according to the police. Reports said the weather was clear at the time of the crash, and the pilot of the Cessna plane lost control of the aircraft while trying to land.

According to a report on Reuters, there were some issue with the plane during the landing procedure and the pilot failed to align it with the runway. The pilot then tried to take off again, but the Cessna aircraft did not rise up. It broke through the barrier that separated the crowd and rolled into a waiting crowd, the report said.

Reports said the pilot was not injured in the crash, but eight other onlookers were. Two women and a 10-year-old boy were declared dead.

No other details regarding the deceased or any information about the injured were available yet.

Four people who were on board the plane at the time of the incident and an eyewitness were suffering from shock, a report on 9 News said. It added the plane was on an excursion to the Wasserkuppe and came from the Mannheim area of southwest Germany.

Wasserkuppe is a large plateau formation and is also the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains. Sputnik News reported the spot was very popular among amateur pilots.

Cessna Aircraft Company is an American general aviation manufacturing company best known for its small, piston-powered aircraft and business jets.

In an unrelated incident, a Cessna C240 aircraft crashed into a home in Payson, Arizona on Saturday evening.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials originally said the pilot, who was killed in the accident, was the only person on board the plane. In a Sunday afternoon update, they said the aircraft had a passenger as well. The condition of the passenger was not made available. There were no reported injuries on the ground, a report said. The FAA said the aircraft was on its way to the local airport nearby when the incident happened.

Payson authorities said the man who owned the house, Doug Denham, was able to get out safely.

He told ABC 15 the incident was "a hell of a crash...didn't know what it was, but just, BOOM, and then the front glass went flying out into the front yard."

Firefighters who responded to the scene said the plane sliced through the house and caused extensive damage to the front and back of the house.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the cause of the crash.