A small plane crashed into the side of an Augusta, Ga., synagogue, killing the pilot..
About a dozen people were celebrating Chanukah in the Children of Israel’s Walton Way Temple at the time of the crash Wednesday. No one was injured.
The pilot of the plane, en route from Charleston, S.C., reported an engine problem to air traffic control before crashing. The pilot appeared to be trying to land in a school parking lot nearby, according to news reports.
The Associate Press reported that fire and heat from the crash melted some of the roof overhang, but there was no structural damage to the synagogue.
Vallirie Hooper, who was on her way to choir practice, told AP that the plane “just glided right into the side of the building.”
“It was hard to tell if the engines were working,” Hooper said. “It was a flash and a flame.”
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