In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a plane disaster claimed the lives of two grandparents who were en route to visit relatives for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Family members informed WGHP that Patty and Joe Kreher of Freeburg, Illinois, were traveling from St. Louis to North Carolina on Saturday to see their son and grandkids when their plane went down. The two had previously made the trip from St. Louis to North Carolina several times.
Around 11:15 a.m. on Saturday, the couple’s Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche crashed northeast of the city, miles from the Smith Reynolds airport, according to the outlet.
Although the Winston-Salem Police Department (WSPD) confirmed to the Winston-Salem Journal that two persons perished in the collision, a WSPD representative did not immediately reply to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
According to information from FlightAware.com, the aircraft made a circle over the airport in London, Kentucky, 1 hour and 45 minutes after taking off. It was then rescheduled to arrive at Smith Reynolds at 11:10 a.m.
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Images from the accident show the plane seemed to be split in two, and the ruin was visible just feet from a house.
HAPPENING NOW: @NTSB crews are on site of Winston Salem plane crash starting the removal process. @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/vjAKLcBB8b
— Lauren Crawford (@laurenacrawford) November 21, 2022
According to WGHP, the debris was cleared by National Transportation Safety Board authorities on Monday morning. The video shows the scene being taped off. The plane was disassembled by crew members using saws before it was eventually carried away by a pickup truck.
Although no more casualties have been recorded, Sergeant C.G. Byrd of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol told WGHP that the plane crashed in a wooded section of a residential area. Before the plane crashed, the pilot reportedly told the control tower that one of their engines was “not making as much power as the other one.”
According to Susan Harrison-Bailey, who spoke to the Winston-Salem Journal, the jet came down close to her property but missed her house. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will both look into the disaster, according to the outlet.
Harrison-Bailey remarked, “I couldn’t tell that it was an airplane. “There was a great deal of smoke. I could tell that it had been damaged by the trees. It came down in a straight line.”
Only a month had passed when a small plane in Minnesota collided with a home, killing three people. The Cessna 172 hit the second floor of a Hermantown house before coming to a stop in the backyard of the house’s occupants.
The two home’s occupants weren’t hurt. Alyssa Schmidt, 32, of St. Paul, and her brother, Matthew Schmidt, 31, of Burnsville, were eventually named as the victims of that crash. Tyler Fretland, 32, of Burnsville, who was the pilot of the aircraft, was also a victim.
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