HOUSTON, June 9 (UPI) -- Three people were killed Thursday after a small plane suddenly went down on the outer fringe of a Houston airport, authorities said.
The single-engine Cirrus fixed-wing aircraft was flying near Houston's William P. Hobby Airport around 1 p.m. when it encountered trouble and fell from the sky.
The plane went down on the northwest corner of the airport grounds and hit a vehicle in a hardware store parking lot, KPRC-TV reported.
"Witnesses were more shocked than anything. The alarm [of the car] was going off and there was smoke," eyewitness Nicole Andrews said.
Three people aboard the plane were killed, but no one on the ground was hurt, officials said. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
The small plane was operated by Oklahoma-based Safe Aviation, according to Federal Aviation Administration records, the Houston Chronicle reported. It departed Normal, Okla., earlier Thursday morning.
The identities of those killed were not initially reported.
Hobby Airport, located sevenmiles from downtown Houston, was formerly the city's primary airport before George Bush International Airport opened in 1969. It now handles mostly small regional and private flights.
