By CNN Staff
(CNN) — Federal authorities said Thursday that a small plane that crashed in east Georgia had aborted its landing before striking a 60-foot utility pole, killing five people onboard.
The plane careened into a wooded area and erupted in flames, said National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt.
The light jet aircraft was headed toward the Thomson-McDuffie Regional Airport in Thomson when it crashed Wednesday.
Two people survived the crash and were rushed to a hospital, McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall told CNN affiliate WJBF.
The flight took off from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville, Tennessee. The two cities are about 350 miles apart; Thomson is about 30 miles west of Augusta.
The crash sparked a fire and left nearby residents without power.
“It was like a boom,” resident Rhonda Bouthry told the station. “The power flickered on and off. It wasn’t off but about 20 minutes.”
The aircraft was a Hawker Beechcraft 390/Premier I.
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