All residents of an apartment complex for the elderly in Virginia that was destroyed when a US Navy fighter jet crashed into it today, have been accounted for, with only one resident still hospitalized with minor injuries, a rescue crew chief said today.
The person not yet discharged is in good condition though believed to have broken bones, Virginia Beach Fire
and Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Riley.
Everyone has been accounted for’ at the Mayfair Mews complex in Virginia Beach, Riley told Reuters. ‘We are not
actively looking for anyone.’
The US Navy F/A-18 jet fighter suffered what a Pentagon official described as ‘a catastrophic mechanical
malfunction’ during a training flight before it crashed shortly after take-off, sending fireballs into the sky,
damaging six buildings and injuring seven people, including both crew members.
Both crew members ejected and one was found still strapped into his ejection seat.
Thick black clouds of smoke billowed into the air as fire reduced the apartment buildings to a blackened shell.
The Mayfair Mews complex was less than two miles (3 .2 km) fr om Naval Air Station Oceana, where the F-18D was based.
Crews had searched into the night for any injured residents in five of the buildings, several of which have
collapsed.
Riley said officials are now attending to the needs of the up to 63 residents whose apartment units were
destroyed, including finding long-term housing for them.
———————-REUTERS