Couple Killed as Cargo Plane Hits House

WARREN, Mich. — A cargo plane flying erratically nose-dived into a residential area, struck a garage and a house and exploded early today, killing a couple in the house and the pilot, officials said.

The couple’s three children, who were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, were unhurt and were led to safety by neighbors, said Herbert Kauffman, assistant police chief for this Detroit suburb.

The twin-engine Beechcraft plane had just taken off from Detroit City Airport, not the city’s main airport, about 12:30 a.m. when it went into a nose dive and struck a garage, propelling a van into the first-floor bedroom of the house next door before crashing into that house and bursting into flames, police Lt. Orba Underwood said.

“There are parts of the aircraft and car inside the bedroom,” he said.

Kauffman identified the victims as Norma and Harold Richardson, both 29. Their children--Randi, 9; Erin, 5, and Debra, 4--were taken to grandparents in Warren. A neighbor whose garage was struck was unharmed, but her house was damaged by flames.