Italy: eight dead in tourist plane crash near Milan, Romanian billionaire among victims
A tourist plane crashed on Sunday near Milan (northern Italy), resulting in the death of the seven passengers and the pilot. The aircraft, a Pilatus PC-12 which had taken off from Milan’s Linate airport bound for Olbia in Sardinia (south), crashed five minutes after takeoff in the early afternoon in San Donato Milanese, a town in the south-east of the Lombard capital, according to Il Corriere della Sera.
According to Il Corriere della Sera and the Italian agency AGI, the plane was piloted by Romanian billionaire Dan Petrescu, 68 years old. Among the passengers were his wife, aged 65 and having French nationality, his 30-year-old son Dan Stefano, as well as a child. Dan Petrescu, one of the richest men in Romania, heads a large construction group and owns hypermarkets and shopping centers.
The plane, which witnesses said was already in flames before crashing, crashed into an empty office building undergoing renovations. “The plane had an engine on fire and fell steeply, without making any maneuvers, it simply rushed”, according to a testimony quoted by Il Corriere della Sera.
“I heard the panes of my windows shake,” said Giuseppe, a young man of 26 years living near the scene of the accident quoted by the Italian agency AGI. “I opened the window and like in the movies, I saw a big column of smoke rising, and I called for help. “
The Pilatus PC-12 is a single-engine, turboprop business aircraft, which can also be used as cargo or for the transport of up to nine passengers. The national aviation safety agency has opened an investigation. “The black box has been resumed”, announced, once there, the deputy prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano.
