The aircraft, which departed from Austin, Texas, was heading to the Bahamas when it went down near Cresthaven, less than seven miles (11 kilometres) from US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Several unverified videos shared on social media appeared to show the aircraft plunging almost vertically towards the ground before crashing at high speed, triggering a massive fireball and leaving a burning crater near a busy roadside.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the incident as a “horrific tragedy” and confirmed that all nine people aboard the aircraft were k!lled.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also described the incident as a “cataclysmic plane crash”, telling reporters near the scene that the aircraft “looked like a missile going down”. He added that there were no reports of injuries among people on the ground.
The crash occurred near the entrance to a mobile home park, according to Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores, who said about 600 residents were evacuated and moved to shelters.
Trump had been at Mar-a-Lago earlier on Sunday but left the area aboard Air Force One shortly before noon, about an hour before the Learjet crashed.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would investigate the incident alongside the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Storms had reportedly been recorded in the area around the time of the crash. An audio recording shared on the air traffic monitoring website LiveATC.net captured what appeared to be a member of the cockpit crew reporting moderate turbulence and saying they were “managing the ice”.
The person also reported that the aircraft was “picking up precipitation” and needed to climb before declaring an emergency.
“Mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the person said in the recording. Seconds later, they reported that the aircraft was descending at 20,000 feet per minute before saying: “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
Communications then stopped.
The cause of the crash has not been established, and the investigation by the FAA and NTSB is expected to determine what led to the aircraft’s rapid descent.
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