Three employees of Tesla Motors, which produces the 2-seat Roadster, shown here, were killed in a Palo Alto small plane crash.
A small plane owned by a senior engineer with the maverick electric automaker, Tesla Motors, has crashed into a Northern California neighborhood killing three company employees.
The crash scattered debris in a Palo Alto community, igniting fires. But there have been no reports of injuries on the ground.
The twin-engine Cessna 310 had just taken off from Palo Alto Airport, near Tesla headquarters, when it struck power lines obscured by thick fog, according to observers at the scene. All three aboard were reported dead at the scene and Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, confirmed to the Associated Press that all were employees.
While full identities were not immediately available, the doomed plane was owned by Air Unique, of Santa Clara, California. In turn, that firm was owned by Doug Bourn, a senior Tesla engineer. Initial reports said he was believed to be piloting the Cessna, though that has not been confirmed.
Among the buildings damaged by the crash was a house where a day care center operated. It was struck by a wing of the aircraft and engulfed in flames. No one has been reported injured on the ground and the fires ignited by the accident were quickly extinguished. Much of the surrounding community lost power as a result of the damage to the electric power lines.
“Tesla is a small, tightly knit company, and this is a tragic day for us,” Musk said in a statement. The Tesla CEO said families would be notified before the identities of the employees killed in the accident are made public.
The Silicon Valley-based firm is already producing the small Roadster, a battery-powered 2-seater, but it is planning to move into more mainstream segments, starting with the Model S, a sedan due to market in 2012. It is unclear how the crash will affect Tesla’s timetable.