COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – Collier County dispatchers were inundated with 911 calls after a private jet crashed on Interstate 75 Friday afternoon, killing two pilots from South Florida. Authorities have now released those phone calls.
Five people were aboard the plane, operated by Fort Lauderdale-based Hop-A-Jet, when it crashed and burst into flames on the freeway after trying to make an emergency landing.
The two victims who died were pilot Edward Daniel Murphy, 50, of Oakland Park, along with second in command Ian Frederick Hofmann, 65, of Pompano Beach. Three others were hurt.
“Hi. A plane just crashed on I-75. It just landed right now and it’s on fire,” one 911 caller said through tears. “I don’t know what to do. It looks like somebody’s trying to approach it. Oh, people are getting out. It looks like people are getting out of it.”
Miraculously, no one on the ground died, even though the plane hit a vehicle. One of the people in that car dialed 911.
“So that hit our car and we have, the whole back of the car is gone,” the caller said.
Another caller said, “I don’t see any other cars. It looks like the jet is engulfed in flames right now. We’re driving up towards it.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board continued to investigate the crash as of Wednesday evening.