All nine people aboard a Learjet 60 business jet that crashed Sunday in Palm Beach County, Florida, have died, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed. The aircraft, flying from Austin, Texas, toward the Bahamas, nose-dived near a busy roadway and exploded, gouging a crater in the pavement.

According to the FAA and ATC recordings, the jet was near 35,000 feet when the crew reported turbulence, precipitation and ice and asked to climb. The situation worsened within moments: a mayday, descents of thousands of feet per minute — rates that Flightradar24 said at one point exceeded 32,000 ft/min — and a radio call that the plane was in an overspeed condition and about to hit the ground.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis likened the impact to “a missile” and said there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries on the ground. Dashcam video shows the fireball narrowly missing homes and passing cars. Local authorities closed roads, and about 600 people from a nearby mobile-home community were evacuated while investigators worked the scene.

The NTSB opened an investigation; the FAA is sending a support team. FAA records list a Delaware corporation as the owner; Austin-Bergstrom confirmed a private flight without passenger details. The cause has not been determined; recovery of evidence is complicated by weather and a rain-filled crater.

Source: All nine people onboard business jet that crashed in Florida have died (The Guardian); confirmation: Jet nosedives in South Florida; all 9 on board died (AP News)