Plane Crashes, Burns on Illinois Highway

All 3 on aircraft died in I-55 crash

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

Posted Mar 4, 2020 3:05 AM CST

Copied

3 Die in Plane Crash on Interstate in Illinois — Lincoln firefighters wash down fuel after the crash of a small airplane in the southbound lane of I-55 over Illinois 121 in Lincoln, Ill., Tuesday, March 3, 2020. (David Proeber/The Pantagraph via AP)

Three people died Tuesday when a small plane crashed and burst into flames on Interstate 55 in central Illinois, state police say. Mindy Carroll of the Illinois State Police said in a statement that all three occupants of the plane were killed in the crash in Lincoln, 170 miles southwest of Chicago, at about 8:49am, the AP reports. "The plane became fully engulfed upon impact in the middle of the interstate," police said. The National Transportation Safety Board described the aircraft as a single-engine Cessna 172. Authorities have not described what caused the crash. The NTSB said it is investigating. Police said multiple law enforcement agencies responded and I-55 was closed to traffic for several hours. (Read more plane crash stories.)