Multiple people injured following plane crash in Pennsylvania

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A plane crashed into a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania retirement village parking lot on Sunday afternoon, leaving multiple people injured and sparking a fire that engulfed nearby vehicles.

"It was just an inferno of fire and smoke," said Brian Pipkin, a witness.

The small plane crashed shortly after take off at 3:18 p.m. Eastern from Lancaster Airport. It ended up nose down, with its tail on a vehicle in a parking lot at Brethern Village.

Pipkin, who is the executive assistant at Mennonite Disaster Services, saw the plane go down, stopped and ran toward danger.

"The fire was so hot that it was covering my face up. Things were popping, part of the plane was falling and I was walking over it, thinking to myself this is a very dangerous situation to be in, but I wanted to help. I unfortunately did not see anyone," Pipkin shared.

Five people were on board the single engine Beechcraft Bonanza. They were all taken to hospitals.

The fire heavily damaged five vehicles, and caused some damaged to seven others. No one on the ground was hurt.

"The fact that we have a plane crash where everybody survives and no one on the ground hurt is a wonderful thing and anytime have transportation have risk," said Chief Duane Fisher with the Manheim Township Police Department (MTPD).

The pilot had reported to the tower that a door was open on the plane and they needed to return to the airport. The plane was cleared to land, but went down moments later.

"That's scary when you see something like that happen because you know somebody is going to be injured," said Melvin Neff, another witness.