Portugal plane crash victims included surgeon who operated on Robert Pirès
The 64-year-old knee specialist had operated on several footballers including former Arsenal star Robert Pirès, retired French international Eric Di Meco, and 1991 Ballon d'Or winner Jean-Pierre Papin. The father-of-two, a knee specialist, was returning to his home city of Marseille when the Piper eight-seater plane he was on crashed over the town of Tires near Lisbon just after midday. It hit a lorry unloading outside the supermarket, engulfing the truck in flames and killing the unnamed driver, as well as grazing a block of flats.
TWITTER French surgeon Jean-Pierre Franceschi died on the plane that crashed in Portugal
TWITTER The plane hit a lorry unloading outside Lidl
When the plane fell, the wing damaged my house Maria de Fatima
The pilot was 69-year-old Swiss millionaire Jean Ple, the director of leading prothesis firm Symbios Orthopaedics. Four people were taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation and nine people living in flats near the scene of the tragedy have had to find alternative accommodation because of damage to their properties. Maria de Fatima, one of the locals on the ground whose home was damaged and needed hospital treatment, said: "When the plane fell, the wing damaged my house. It caught fire and I fled with my two-year-old grandson."
GETTY The surgeon had operated on several players including ex Arsenal star Robert Pirès
Mrs de Fatima's cousin Elisabete Fortuna said: "It was a miracle more people weren't killed." The investigation into the accident was continuing today. The plane had only just taken off from the nearby Cascais Aerodrome when it came down without warning.
Plane crashes into supermarket in Portugal Mon, April 17, 2017 A plane has crashed into a branch of Lidl in the town of Cascais, 20 miles west of Lisbon Play slideshow Facebook 1 of 6 Members of the public look on in horror
Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited the scene of the accident at lunchtime yesterday but left without making any comment. Mr Franceschi received the Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit, in 2012 in recognition of his 40-year career. Friend and Marseille-based surgeon Abdou Sbihi said: "He was the most humane person I know.
TWITTER The plane came down without warning