Learjet Crash: County to Send Emergency Declaration to the Governor; Southbound Military Trail Could Stay Closed 30 Days
At Sunday evening's briefing by the crash site, officials said no one on the ground had been reported killed or injured, the county would seek a state emergency declaration, and the crater in Military Trail could keep its southbound side closed for at least a month.
GREENACRES — Palm Beach County will submit an emergency declaration to the governor to help deal with the aftermath of Sunday's Learjet 60 crash on Military Trail, County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said at an evening news conference near the scene, the Palm Beach Post reported. Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking at the same briefing, called the crash cataclysmic, said it left a big crater on the side of the road and spread debris over a significant distance — and said that as of the briefing, there were no reports of anyone on the ground who was killed or injured.
Commissioner Joel Flores, whose district covers the Palm Springs area next to the site, said his first concern is the roughly 600 residents of the mobile home community beside the wreckage, who could not stay Sunday night while the site is investigated and treated as a secured scene, the Post reported. County officials said through local-broadcast reporting that the southbound side of Military Trail might not reopen for at least 30 days because of the crater the impact left in the roadway; the road is closed in both directions between 10th Avenue North and Purdy Lane/Alameda Drive until further notice, with only emergency vehicles allowed through.
The aircraft's tail number is N722BD, an Austin-Bergstrom International Airport spokesperson said, according to the Associated Press, and federal records list it as registered to an LLC in Wilmington, Delaware, as reported in the evening compilations. The Federal Aviation Administration had not identified anyone aboard as of 7 p.m. Sunday, the Post reported. The National Transportation Safety Board leads the investigation and holds its media briefing in West Palm Beach on Monday.
