Plane crashes into quiet Tokyo neighbourhood, 3 killed and 3 pulled alive from the wreckage

A small plane crashed into a row of houses, killing three people and injuring five others in the Japanese city of Tokyo.

Three people were pulled alive from the burning wreckage, which left several of the houses gutted from fire and smoke damage. 

Dramatic photos show the splintered remains of the single-propeller plane after it careered into the houses in the quiet suburb of Chofu, west Tokyo. 

Firefighters were quick to the scene and five people, three of whom were passengers aboard the plane, were taken to hospital. Their current medical status is not immediately known.

Tokyo Fire Department spokesman Teruaki Seki confirmed that three people had been killed in the plane crash, which left the plane's tail lying upside down. 

Minako Akiyama, a resident in the neighbourhood told AP how she remembered hearing the sound of the crash first of all.

She described how she initially heard an enormous noise of something being torn.

'There was kaboom! I ran upstairs, then I saw the house just over there on fire, with a tail of the plane sticking out of it,' she said.

The plane had been flying to Izu Oshima Island, about 60 miles south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean, according to NHK.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash 

Source: +Daily Mail