Plane Crashes Into Airport Building in Wichita, Leaves at Least Four Dead

WICHITA, Kan. (TheBlaze/AP) -- A small plane crashed at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport Thursday morning, resulting in at least two fatalities and sending up huge plumes of black smoke that could be seen for miles around the city.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air reported losing engine power just after takeoff Thursday before 10 a.m. local time. Molinaro said the plane crashed into a building on airport property while attempting to return to the runway.

In the image from video provided by KAKE News black smoke billows from a building at Mid-Continent Airport where officials say a plane crashed Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014 in Wichita, Kan. (AP/KAKE News)

According to KSN-TV, the plane crash caused a fire in the building, which emergency crews have since controlled.

At a news conference a couple of hours after the incident, the fire chief said there were four injured and two dead. Officials did not know at the time if the pilot of the plane was one of the four injured.

In addition, "there are at least five unaccounted for," the chief said.

Images of the FlightSafety building from eyewitness Brian Youngers. https://t.co/qEw2sZdXgS pic.twitter.com/BsdRYwZK6c

— Wichita Biz Journal (@ICTBizJournal) October 30, 2014

It is unclear if these people were on the plane or in the building, but the two fatalities were of people working inside the building. The building itself was identified as one that housed simulators for flight safety, an airport official said at a news conference. This building, he said, typically has around 100 employees in it. Most were safely evacuated.

"The first thing that went through my mind ... was that I was concerned for the lives of everybody," John Weaver, who was in another building near the crash told KSL.

No flights were cancelled but there was a slight delay immediately after the incident. A local road was closed to allow emergency vehicles to get through.

This crash comes a day after a military jet in California went down, killing the pilot.

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Update 1:30 p.m.: The number of fatalities rose to four and injuries to five.