2 are killed in Leominster plane crash

LEOMINSTER -- Two people died last night when a single-engine plane crashed in a residential neighborhood about two miles from the Fitchburg Municipal Airport, the city's mayor said.

Police last night did not release names or other information about the victims, the plane, or what may have caused the crash.

A Fitchburg police official said the occupants of the plane were a man and his daughter.

The plane slammed into a wooded area around 9:30 p.m. at the end of a cul-de-sac about 200 yards from several houses on Leominster's Buttermilk Road. The plane was attempting to land at Fitchburg Municipal Airport, officials said.

"All of a sudden there was a huge explosion," said Anthony Romano, 16, a neighbor who watched the plane swoop low over his home. "When I came outside, the flames were as high as I could see."

Emergency crews rushed to the scene but could not rescue the victims.

"We had a lot of people try to go help out, but they couldn't get close to the fire because it was too large," Mayor Dean Mazzarella said last night not far from the scene.

It's the second plane crash in the area in less than a week. Last Thursday, a single-engine plane carrying two people crashed near Crawford Street in Fitchburg.

Last year, in April, an eight-seat airplane slammed into an industrial building not far from the scene of last night's crash. Six people on board were killed, including New York developer and philanthropist M. Anthony Fisher and his wife, Anne. Their 13-year-old daughter, Tora, survived the crash.

Neighbors last night said the fire was under control shortly after 10 p.m.

Lisa Harrington, who lives four houses from the crash, said police officers and firemen on the scene told her "apparently two are dead."

The plane crashed behind the home of Keith and Tina LeBlanc, Harrington and other neighbors said. They were not injured.

"We had heard some kind of a boom," said Janice Zupko, who lives on Buttermilk Street.

Other neighbors yesterday said they have watched over the years as planes have flown perilously low over their homes. "We're just all so very fortunate it didn't hit a house and very saddened it has gone down," said Beverly McNamara, who has lived on Buttermilk Street for 11 years.

"I've thought of it many times, never expecting it to happen," she said. "They fly in pretty low. We're right in the direction."

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington last night said they are investigating the crash, but they would not release more information.

Officials from the local office of the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Fitchburg Municipal Airport did not return calls last night.

State and local police and fire officials did not release additional details late last night.

Globe correspondents Heather Allen and Stephanie Vosk contributed to this report.