Minneapolis plane crash: US legislator Liz Conmy dies as aircraft explodes into fireball

A small plane crashed just after taking off from Crystal Airport north of Minneapolis on Saturday, killing a North Dakota state legislator and the pilot, authorities said. North Dakota state Rep. Liz Conmy, of Fargo, was killed in the crash, her party confirmed.

The North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party, an affiliate of the national Democratic Party, paid tribute to Conmy in a social media post, calling her a champion for public education, the environment, and transparency. “We are completely heartbroken and gutted by the loss of Representative Liz Conmy. Her death is a profound loss for our state,” the party said in a post on X.

Officers responded to a report of a small plane crash at 11:51am local time and found an aircraft that had crashed and caught fire in a park near a residential area in the city of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, police said.

The incident happened shortly after take-off, Brooklyn Park Police Inspector Matt Rabe said.

He wouldn’t say how many people were on the plane, but the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that two people were aboard.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating a crash involving a Beech F33A aeroplane.

Dramatic driveway CCTV from a nearby home captured the moment the plane plummeted and exploded into a fiery ball.

Nobody on the ground was injured following the crash.

Images emerging after the tragedy showed debris scattered around the area of the crash.