Plane crash in Hayward disrupts BART service

Plane+crash+in+Hayward+disrupts+BART+service

Louis LaVenture,
Editor-in-Chief

A plane crash in South Hayward, on the BART tracks between Union City and South Hayward stations, disrupted service for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.

According to BART Public Information Officer Denisse Gonzalez, the pilot and lone occupant of the Piper PA23 model plane died after the plane crashed on the BART transfer tracks at the Hayward yard between Hayward and Union City around noon.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the cause of the crash is undetermined and the pilot’s name was not released pending notification of the immediate family. The plane caught on fire after it crashed, which was put out by multiple fire crews, according to the Hayward Police Department. There were no reports of any other injuries.

BART service was disrupted for several hours. All BART trains headed north from Fremont and Union City were stopped at South Hayward, where passengers were forced to use AC Transit buses to get to their destinations, according to Gonzalez.

Many of the passengers were Golden State Warriors fans headed to Oracle Arena at the Coliseum Station in Oakland for game seven of the NBA finals. The Oakland Athletics also played a home game at O.co Coliseum, which started at 1:05 p.m. According to Gonzalez, the stoppage lasted for about two hours and by late Sunday, there were reports of just five to seven minute delays system wide.