THE moment a plane piloted by billionaire Dan Petrescu crashed into a building was caught on dashcam footage.
The single engine aircraft came down in a suburb of Milan, killing all eight on board, including a baby boy who had been baptised earlier that day.
The plane flown by 68-year-old Petrescu reportedly burst into flames 16 seconds before hitting a building.
The reasons for the single engine plane plummeting from the sky soon after taking off from Milan airport remain a mystery.
The dashcam footage was taken from a car travelling on a motorway in the city, romaniatv.net reports.
It shows the plane coming down in a near vertical dive before a fireball is seen bursting out from the crash scene.
Petrescu was one of Romania's richest men and had been travelling with his son Dan Stefan Petrescu, 30, and his 65-year-old wife Regina Petrescu.
Filippo Nascimbene, 33, his 34-year-old wife Claire Alexandrescou, theirRafael, and her mother Miruna Anca Wanda Lozinschi, were all also killed in the tragedy.
Raphael was born in January 2020 and has his baptism on Sunday morning, Corriere della Serra reports.
Italian-born Nascimbene and his wife, a Romanian-born French passport holder, were both business executives and friends with the Petrescu family.
After Raphael's baptism both families then went to the airport to head to Sardinia to see Petrescu's 98-year-old mother at the family villa.
The Pilatus PC-12 single engine plane took off from the main runway at Linate airport at 1.04pm local time.
The plane was travelling at about 200mph when it slammed into the building in a fireball 11 minutes after take off.
It performed a right hand turn that would have taken it on its route toOlbia in Sardinia but instead of heading south it went towards the suburb of San Donato.
Frantic controllers asked the billionaire "why did you divert?" as the aircraft veered off course.
"No" is the only word that came in response from Petrescu.
Witnesses said the plane burst into flames and made what investigators call a "vertical fall" 16 seconds before it hit the ground.
Also on the plane was Petrescu's son's Canadian friend 36-year-old Julien Brossard.
Their plane was on its way to the island of Sardinia to visit Mr Petrescu's 98-year-old mother at the family villa.
Petrescu, who also held Germany nationality, headed a major construction firm and owned a string of hypermarkets and mall, Italian media have reported.
According to the Romanian newspaper Adevarul, Petrescu was worth 3billion euros.
Mrs Petrescu was also a dual-national and held a French passport, while her son had been working in Canada.
Witnesses have recalled the moment the plane plummeted out of the sky and smashed into the building/
One named as Andrea, 19, told tgcom.24.: "I saw the plane lose control. I saw it just as it crashed. I saw it dive.
"The plane was low. And then there was a lot of smoke, flames in the sky. Pieces were flying. I was very scared."
Emergency workers said several cars in a nearby parking lot were set ablaze, but apparently the vehicles were unoccupied at the time.
"The plane hit the building on the facade, with an extremely violent impact," said Carlo Cardinali from Milan fire brigade.
“The pilot made a turn, so he noticed some anomaly.”
Speaking at the scene, Milan prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano, said "there does not appear to have been an alarm launched from board".
The plane's black box has been recovered and prosecutors have opened an investigation.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun news desk?
Email us at [email protected] or call 02077824104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours
Click here to get The Sun newspaper delivered for FREE for the next six weeks.
Source: Read Full Article
