A light aircraft piloted by Romanian billionaire Dan Petrescu crashed near Milan on Sunday, killing all eight people on board, including a baby who had just been baptised. The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 took off from Milan's Linate Airport at around 1:00pm local time, bound for Olbia in Sardinia, but crashed minutes later in San Donato Milanese, southeast of Milan.
Petrescu, 68, one of Romania's richest men, died alongside his wife Dorotea Petrescu Balzat, 65, and their son Dan Stefano, 30. Also killed were Italian national Filippo Nascimbene, 32, his wife Claire Stephanie Caroline, and their baby son Rafael, who had been baptised that morning. Miruna Anca Wanda Lozinschi, a Romanian citizen and mother of Claire, was also aboard.
Witnesses reported the plane was already in flames before it struck a two-storey office building undergoing renovations. The blaze spread to several parked cars, but no one on the ground was injured. Firefighters confirmed that only those on the aircraft were involved.
The plane's black box has been recovered, and Italy's aviation safety agency ANSV has launched an investigation. Milan prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano said the flight appeared normal until 'a certain point, then an anomaly appeared on the radar screen and it plunged.'
Petrescu, who headed a major construction firm and owned hypermarkets and malls, bought the plane in 2015 with Vova Cohn, a former shareholder of Dinamo Bucharest football club. His son Dan Stefano, a researcher in Canada, had travelled to Italy to attend baby Rafael's baptism.
