Five people died in the crash of a Cessna 340 at Bartow Airport in Florida after the aircraft took off in dense fog early Sunday. A prominent Lakeland lawyer, his two daughters and two others were killed in the crash, which occurred near the end of the runway. The lawyer, aged 70, and his passengers, in their 20s and 30s, died in the impact and post-crash fire. They took off about 7:15 a.m. for Key West and the ASOS was reporting zero visibility at the time.
Local officials said first responders were dispatched to the scene within minutes but had to move slowly because of the dense fog. They didn’t get to the crash scene until 13 minutes later and it took another 12 minutes to knock down the intense fire.
