Victims In Clearwater Plane Crash Identified By Police

CLEARWATER, FL — Authorities have identified the three people killed when a small plane crashed into a Clearwater mobile home park Thursday evening.

Pilot Jemin Patel, 54, of Melbourne Beach, died when the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35 he was flying crashed into a mobile home at Bayside Waters on U.S. Highway 19 south of Clearwater Mall shortly after 7 p.m.

Two people on the ground also died, authorities said. They were identified as Martha Parry, 68, of Clearwater, and Mary Ellen Ponder, 54, of Treasure Island. Ponder was visiting Parry and both were inside Parry's mobile home at the time of the crash, authorities said.

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“Our thoughts are with the three victims and their families — this tragedy could have been even worse,” Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy said in a statement Friday.

About 10 people had enjoyed a day of golf and were having drinks inside Parry's mobile home moments before the crash, an eyewitness said Friday. While most of the guests had left, Ponder had lingered to finish her drink when the home went up in flames, their neighbor Rick Renner told The Associated Press.

According to authorities, multiple mobile homes caught fire after the crash. One sustained heavy damage from the crash and subsequent fire while two adjacent homes sustained minor damage from heat and flames, police said.

Authorities said the plane was flying from Vero Beach to Clearwater Airpark when the pilot made a “mayday” emergency call to the air traffic control tower. The plane went off radar about three miles north of the runway in the area of the mobile home park.

The pilot told air traffic controllers that he was losing engine power, reports said.

“I heard a loud swoosh sound and I looked up into the sky and I saw a small plane go over,” Rachelle Roach, who lives in the mobile home park, told WFLA. “I saw a plane go into some of our units and I heard a large pop, then the explosion, then fire. All the neighbors that were around said 'Call 911.'”

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, police said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.