Plane crash in Milan: Where did it happen and how many people were hurt?

The crash involved a private plane headed to Sardinia.

A private plane bound for Sardinia crashed shortly after taking off from Linate city airport in Milan.

The crash happened on Sunday, but the investigation into what happened and why the plane crashed is still ongoing.

Here’s the latest news on the Milan plane crash, including how many people were killed.

Firefighters were on the scene quickly to stop the flames caused by the plane crash in Milan. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo.

Where did the plane crash in Milan?

The small plane crashed into the side of an office building in San Donato Milanese, a town southeast of Milan in northern Italy.

The incident took place at 1pm on Sunday October 3rd.

It was headed for Sardinia but had only been in the air for a short while before colliding with the building.

San Donato Milanese is just a few miles south of Milan Linate city airport.

The crash took place just outside a suburban metro station.

People nearby could hear a loud blast when the plane hit the two-storey building.

The pilot was a Romanian billionaire, Dan Petrescu. An investigation has been launched into what caused the crash.

Eye-witnesses report that the plane was already on fire when it began to descend.

"I heard the sound of a plane above me as if the plane was shutting down its engine," a local man named Giuseppe told Reuters news agency. "Then I heard a very loud explosion, the windows of our house started to shake so I opened the window and saw a huge cloud of smoke rising."

How many people were killed by the Milan plane crash?

There were eight people on board the plane, including Mr Petrescu’s wife and 30-year-old son.

Unfortunately, none of them survived the incident, including a young boy who was also on board.

There is no more information so far on the identities of the other four people who were on board the plane and also killed by the plane crash.

However, due to it being a private plane, it’s thought that the rest of the group were connected to Mr Petrescu personally.

The office building was vacant at the time due to it being renovated.

Firefighters report that no one on the ground was hurt.

Several parked cars on the street and the office building itself caught fire as the result of the crash.

The noise and the flames meant that firefighters made it onto the scene quickly to stop the flames in the building and on the street.

Who is Dan Petrescu?

Mr Petrescu is one of the richest man in Romania, who made his money from property development.

He also owned a string of hypermarkets and malls as part of his business ventures.

The 68-year-old was flying the single-engine Pilatus PC-12, alongside his 65-year-old wife, their adult son, and the rest of the group.

The black box from the plane has now been recovered, with hopes of understanding what went wrong on board.

The plane was on its way to Sardinia when it took off from Milan airport, but made it less than 10 miles before the crash happened.