Two People Dead In Kansas Airport Plane Crash

Two people were reportedly dead after a small plane hit a building at the airport in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday.

An engine on a Beechcraft aircraft reportedly lost power at around 9:50 a.m. local time, causing it to crash shortly after takeoff. The plane reportedly crashed into the FlightSafety International building at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

Fire Chief Ronald D. Blackwell told local media outlets that two people have died from the crash inside the building, and another five are unaccounted for.

"We may find more but right now we don't know," Blackwell told the Associated Press. 

Witnesses reportedly seeing huge plumes of black smoke come from the building where the plane, which was trying to land back in Kansas following the engine failure, had crashed. "It was horrific. There was heavy smoke on the horizon as you approached the airport for miles," Blackwell said. "It was a very challenging fire as you might imagine."

One witness, Jaison Podkanowicz, told the BBC News that at the time of the crash he heard a loud "pop" noise from where he works nearby.

"I went outside and there was a plane on top of the building opposite, a flight training centre," he told the British media outlet.

"We heard this 'vroom,'" Brian Youngers, another witness, told the Wichita Eagle newspaper. "It was way too loud, way too close. We were like, 'Holy crap.'"

Officials with the airport have said that incoming and outgoing flights were not immediately affected by Thursday's incident.