A Navy jet crashed into an apartment complex in Virginia Beach, Va., on Friday, damaging or destroying five buildings and causing at least minor injuries to people on the ground and the pilots, who safely ejected.
There are no reports so far of critical injuries or fatalities, but emergency crews have yet to complete thorough searches of the remains of the buildings after battling the fire and smoke.
Both pilot of the FA-18 Superhornet and at least one person on the ground were taken to hospitals.
Bruce Nedelka, the Virginia Beach EMS division chief, said that witnesses saw fuel being dumped from the jet before it went down, and that fuel was found on buildings and vehicles in the area.
"By doing so, he mitigated what could have been an absolute massive, massive fireball and fire," Nedelka said. "With all of that jet fuel dumped, it was much less than what it could have been."Â
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The crash happened in the Hampton Roads area, which has a large concentration of military bases, including Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world. Naval Air Station Oceana, where the jet that crashed was assigned, is located in Virginia Beach.
Live video from WAVY-TV showed dozens of police cars, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles filling the densely populated neighborhood where the plane crashed. Yellow fire hoses snaked through side streets as fire crews poured water on the charred rooftops of brick apartment houses.
Three buildings were destroyed, and two more had significant damage, Virginia Beach fire department spokesman Tim Riley told WVEC-TV.
The fire had been put out, Nedelka said, and now crews were going through the buildings to search for anyone who may have been inside.
As authorities closed roads in the neighborhood, traffic backed up on side streets and on nearby Interstate 264, with slow-moving columns of vehicles bringing drivers to a virtual standstill early Friday afternoon.
Edna Lukens, an apartment employee across the street from the crash, said she saw three apartment buildings on fire.
"We heard this loud noise and we looked out the window and there was smoke all in the sky. Then the flames started going up in the sky, and then the apartment building just started burning and the police was called and everybody came out," Lukens said.
Lukens said a senior citizens' community was across the street, and people were trying to help them evacuate.
The Daily Press of Portsmouth reported that Sean Pepe of Norfolk and Kenny Carver of Hampton saw the jet as they were driving on Interstate 264. They said it appeared to be "floating" in the air before it went down behind trees.
"It was odd, but we didn't think anything of it," Pepe told the newspaper. "We thought it was doing maneuvers. We were watching the plane but didn't see the impact. We saw it go down and there was a `boom.' Then there was black smoke everywhere."
"We are taking all possible steps at the state level to provide immediate resources and assistance to those impacted by the crash of an F-18 fighter jet in Virginia Beach," Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a statement. "Our fervent prayer is that no one was injured or killed in this accident."
The Navy said the plane crashed just after takeoff. The jet was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 106 based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.Â
The same model of fighter jet, an F/A-18D, crashed in December 2008 while returning to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar after a training exercise in a San Diego neighborhood. That crash killed four members of one family and destroyed two homes.
The Marine Corps said the jet suffered a mechanical failure, but a series of bad decisions led the pilot -- a student -- to bypass a potentially safe landing at a coastal Navy base after his engine failed. The pilot ejected and told investigators he screamed in horror as he watched the jet plow into the neighborhood, incinerating two homes. A federal judge ordered the U.S. government to pay the family nearly $18 million in restitution.
Fox News' Justin Fishel and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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