Plane crashes 20 feet from Michigan prison

4 dead in accident; appeared pilot avoided hitting housing near facility

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updated 8:29 a.m. ET Aug. 15, 2006

KINCHELOE, Mich. - A small plane crashed on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, narrowly missing a state prison and killing all four people on board, authorities said.

No one at the Chippewa Correctional Facility was injured when the twin-engine plane crashed, hitting a buffer fence about 20 feet outside the prison’s secure perimeter Monday morning, said Russ Marlan, a Department of Corrections spokesman.

“It came close,” Marlan said. “But all staff and prisoners are accounted for.”

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He said inmates were sent to their cells and windows were closed as the plane burned outside the facility.

The plane’s pilot and three passengers were from Wisconsin, state police said. Their identities were not released.

Marlan said it appeared the pilot tried to avoid hitting housing associated with the prison. Chippewa Correctional Facility houses an estimated 1,500 prisoners of varying security levels.