Small plane crashes on a Malaysian highway, killing all 8 people on board and 2 on the ground

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A small aircraft lost control and crashed Thursday on a highway in Malaysia’s central Selangor state, killing all eight people on board and two on the ground, authorities said.

Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said the six passengers and two crew members on the private chartered plane perished in the crash. The drivers of a motorcycle and a car that were hit when the plane smashed into the highway also died, he said.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the plane left the northern resort island of Langkawi and had obtained approval to land at Subang airport. Just minutes before landing, it veered off its flight path and plunged to the ground in Shah Alam district, he said.

The national Bernama news agency quoted witnesses as saying the airplane exploded upon impact. Nur Alia Nordin said she was in her house and was jolted by a deafening noise and saw thick black smoke.

“I heard a loud explosion and as soon as I reached the site, I saw a person in flames on the ground,” she told Bernama. ”I saw a motorcycle and a plane on fire.”

Videos shared on social media showed fire and plumes of black smoke rising from the crash site.

The bodies were taken to a hospital to be identified, Loke said at a news conference. He said officials were searching the area and looking for the plane’s black box to determine the cause of the accident.

Local media reported that one of the plane’s passengers was an assemblyman in central Pahang state.