The aircraft was a Learjet 60 travelling from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, the Federal Aviation Administration said. It came down in the area of Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue North, in Palm Beach County, about nine miles from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s resort.
Images from the scene showed a crater-sized hole in a residential road, with fire, broken concrete and aircraft debris scattered across the area. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue declared a mass casualty incident, and the sheriff’s office told motorists to avoid the area and seek alternative routes.
What is established so far is narrow but grim: everyone aboard the jet died. What is not yet clear is whether anyone on the ground was killed or injured, or who the nine people on the aircraft were. In a crash that tears into a neighbourhood, that distinction matters. The confirmed death toll is limited to the people on board; the wider human toll had not been pinned down in the initial official statements.
Duffy described the crash as a “horrific tragedy” and said the FAA was sending a team to help an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. That is the relevant chain of authority here. The FAA identifies the flight and responds, but the NTSB will lead the inquiry into what brought the aircraft down.
There is no official explanation yet for why the jet crashed after leaving Texas bound for the Bahamas. At this stage, the hardest facts are also the fewest ones: a Learjet 60, a residential road, and nine people dead.
Alex de Valletta 
Dua Mifsud 
Isla Camilleri