A plane crashed Friday afternoon near the Townsville Airport plowing into homes south of the city. There are 42 confirmed dead and 16 injured.

Curtis Vokamer, deputy fire marshall,  said his crew found most of the 55 passengers dead in the debris of the Boeing 737. The Holy Cross Hospital reported 16 others injured, including 3 flight attendants, were admitted with injuries. One of the victims identified was Representative George W. Collins, D-III., who was returning from Washington to “organize a children’s Christmas party.”

One of the survivors, Marvin Anderson, 43, of Omaha, said, “The last words of the pilot said to us were, ‘We are at 4,000 feet and everything is going well.’ I know something was wrong a few seconds later because he began to rev the engines.”

Several board members of the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington were already in Townsville conducting hearings from the October 20th commuter train crash. One official said, “We’ll look into the thoroughly.”