Eight die in plane crash during storm.

[Greg McDonald]

From news.com.au:

A SMALL business jet crashed near an airport in southern Minnesota overnight, killing eight people on board.

The victims were customers of an architectural glass company who had been heading to Owatonna, a town south of Minneapolis where the company is headquartered, said the firm, Viracon.

A spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said seven were killed on impact and an eighth died in a hospital.

He said there was confusion over how many people were on the jet and that there may have been a ninth victim.

The plane was a Hawker 800 jet operating as East Coast Jets Flight 81. It had left Atlantic City, New Jersey, earlier in the day, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The charter operator's website said the aircraft can carry eight passengers.

It crashed near a runway at the airport close to Owatonna.

Local media reports said heavy thunderstorms and high winds were sweeping the region at the time.

A spokeswoman for Viracon said those on the plane had been set to attend a meeting at its offices, and that no one on the plane worked for the company.

Viracon was recently awarded a contract to supply architectural glass for New York's new Freedom Tower on the World Trade Centre site.