Plane crash kills 2 in North Myrtle Beach RV park

Two people were killed Tuesday when a single-engine plane crashed into a trailer parked at the Briarcliffe RV Resort in North Myrtle Beach.

The crash happened just after 1 p.m. Tuesday at the RV park located on North Kings Highway. Witnesses reported seeing the Cessna plane crash into the park and hearing screams from victims.

Horry County Coroner Robert Edge said that the plane's pilot and a woman in a camper were killed. The woman was Eva Sullivan, 70, from New Hampshire. The pilot's idenity was not available Tuesday. Authorities were notifying relatives.

Autopsies are planned for today, Edge said.

The woman and her husband were sitting on the couch inside the RV when the plane crashed, North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling said.

Dowling said the woman's husband, who was able to make it out of his trailer after the impact, suffered first-degree burns and was taken to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center. His name was not available. Another individual who was in the vicinity at the time of the plane crash suffered minor injuries and refused treatment, Dowling said.

Grand Strand Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Joan Carroza said a man hurt in the crash was transported to that hospital and was evaluated Tuesday for non-life-threatening injuries.. She said the hospital is not treating any other patients for injuries related to the incident.

The incident is the second plane crash in the North Myrtle Beach area in less than a year. The earlier crash killed three people.

The plane Tuesday clipped some trees as it crashed and damaged three RVs in the park, according to Dowling. The weather was cloudy with light drizzling rain at the time of the incident.

Emergency crews closed off two blocks inside the RV park after responding to the crash to secure the area, Dowling said. The plane crashed on the north end of the RV park, close to U.S. 17.

Joyce Bertschy, an employee at the RV resort, said she heard the plane come in low over the office building.

She said she was in the office with about eight other employees when "we heard it come in and then we heard the explosion." She said the resort is in the flight line for Grand Strand airport and they sometimes hear planes come over.

"Thank God our resort is almost empty at this time," she said. But she said there were "quite a few people" in the area where the plane crashed.

The 2004 Cessna plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration's website, is registered to Flynfish LLC in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The pilot had been parking the plane at Ramp 66 in North Myrtle Beach for the last two months or so, Dowling said. Officials think the pilot had a home in the area.

He said the pilot was "doing touch-and-go landings" Tuesday, which officials believe was to keep up to date his instrument flying certification or practice to achieve the certification.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the crash occurred after one of those take-off maneuvers.

Investigators are working to determine more. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board expect to be the crash site today.

The last fatal plane crash in North Myrtle Beach happened on July 14 and killed Danny Carroll, 54, his wife, Raychel Carroll, 66, and their granddaughter, Mallory Fields. That crash occurred soon after the pilot took off from the Grand Strand Airport in North Myrtle Beach.

That crash remains under investigation, but a preliminary report showed Danny Carroll, who piloted the plane, was not rated to fly that particular plane at night, according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Carroll family had spent the day with family on vacation in North Myrtle Beach.

The plane crashed into the back of a mobile home and caught fire when it exploded at 1306 Toucan Road in Creekside Mobile Home Park.

Sandra Freeman, 54; Robert John Werkheiser, 38; and Keith Lewis, 35 were treated and released from area hospitals for injuries they suffered in the crash.

A fourth person, Ronnie Bryant, 34, suffered burns.