Small Plane Crashes into Eastern Arizona School

EAGAR, Ariz. - A small plane has crashed into a school in far eastern Arizona, and now the building is engulfed in flames. The two occupants of the plane are dead.

It happened Friday about 2 p.m. in Eagar, Arizona.

Darwin Slade, a witness, says the plane hit the classroom side of Round Valley High School, just south of the school's auditorium. Slade says he saw some people running north, away from the building, and then there was an explosion. [See video]

Classes at Round Valley High School are out for the summer, but there was a choir event going on in another part of campus. Everyone else is accounted for. Eric Neitzel, spokesperson for the Show Low Fire Department, says it's "a miracle" no one on the ground was hurt or killed.

However, Neitzel says that there were no survivors in the crash. Two people are confirmed dead -- they have not been identified. The plane was a Piper Cherokee, according to FAA spokesperson Laura Brown, which can seat four to six people.

As of 9 p.m. Friday, a large fire still smolders at the school. Firefighters say the wind and smoke are making it a nightmare to battle the blaze. A handful of houses east and north of the school were evacuated and all roads adjacent to the school are shut down.

The school is a mile and a half away from the Springerville Airport. The plane had apparently took off from the airport and experienced some sort of distress when it crashed into the high school.

Witness Jeff Hugh reported seeing the pilot waving to people below as the plane circled the school in an apparent attempt to warn them. Authorities think the pilot was trying to land in the soccer field.

Eagar Vice Mayor James Nelson saw the plane go down. "It was kind of tilting side to side, I knew it was going to go down... we went to try to get into the school to see if anyone was in there, but all the doors were locked... within a few seconds, about 60 feet away from me, what appeared to be the fuel tank of the plane blew up." [See video]

The Apache County Sheriff's Office and firefighters from several agencies are responding. Since all the firefighters in Eagar are volunteers, calls were sent out for assistance from agencies in Show Low, Pine Top and other neighboring cities.

The high school was scheduled to be the site of a large political rally Friday night, featuring Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin. Martin did a phone interview with FOX 10 to describe what he witnessed. [See video]

To hear more witness recounts, see the video below:

Eagar is just 20 miles from the New Mexico border, about 200 miles east of Phoenix.

Check out the photo gallery slideshow to see images from the scene, and the video reports for more information.

First reported by MyFOXPhoenix.com