‘A big gulf of flame and smoke’: 911 callers describe plane crashing into highway in Dartmouth
On the morning of Oct. 13, drivers on Interstate 195 called 911 to report seeing something unusual — as one caller put it, "I just saw ... an explosion."
A fixed-wing single-engine Socata TBM 700 plane had just crashed into the median on the highway, not long after taking off from New Bedford Regional Airport. Two people on board , a husband and wife, were killed. The couple, identified by authorities as Thomas and Agatha Perkins , of Middletown, Rhode Island, were headed to Wisconsin.
Massachusetts State Police learned of the crash around 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 13, a Monday.
An employee at Dartmouth Building Supply, which is located on Reed Road near the highway, told a dispatcher, "it looks like a plane just crashed."
"We just [saw] a big gulf of flame and smoke," the employee said.
Another caller, a paramedic, said they saw "things exploded all across the highway."
The paramedic told police they were coming home from work when they saw the crash. They got out of their car and made their way to the crash scene.
"Everything's completely gone in pieces across the highway," they said, confirming for police that a plane had in fact crashed.
As the paramedic approached the plane, they said, "I don't think anybody survived, there's no way."
"There's jet fuel all over the place," they said. As they got closer, they determined there was no way to get into the cockpit to try and rescue any survivors.
"They're sealed [in]," the paramedic said. "The cockpit windshield is completely blackened out."
"The actual plane is right in the median, but pieces are strewn across the highway," they continued.
The crash forced the closure of much of I-195 in the area for the rest of the morning and throughout the day.
An investigation into the crash remains ongoing.
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