A Hawaii Air Ambulance plane crashed into a Maui car dealership Wednesday night, killing three people on board, according to officials.
The crash happened at about 7:15 p.m. as the twin-engine Cessna 414 headed from Oahu to Kahului to pick up a patient for transport back to Honolulu, according to ambulance officials.
The crash smashed dozens of vehicles at a BMW deadership in Kahului and left a fiery blaze, according to witnesses. At least two vehicles exploded in the crash, sources said.
"This plane was like a 100 feet off the ground 100, 150 feet off the ground and it turned over Maui Marketplace and the turn looked funny because it was a twin engine and it was banking and falling at the same time," witness William McElroy said.
There were three people on board the flight, according to ambulance officials. The crew included a pilot and two medics, a male and female.
State Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said no injuries were reported among people on the ground at the scene of the crash at BMW of Maui in Kahului. It was closed at the time.
The crew has been identified as pilot Peter Miller, 32, of Kailua, Brien Eisaman, a 37-year-old registered nurse and assistant chief flight nurse, of Waipahu, and Marlena Yomes, 39, a paramedic and Honolulu base station supervisor, of Waianae.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the crash.
It's the second fatal crash involving a Hawaii Air Ambulance plane in recent years. Another plane went down on Jan. 31, 2004, on the Big Island. The crash killed paramedics Mandy Shiraki and Joseph Daniel Villiaros and pilot Ron Laubacher.
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