A family of four and their pets narrowly escaped after a small plane crashed directly into their San Diego home, destroying everything in its path.
The Cessna 550 airplane dropped from the sky and smashed into Ben and Srujiana McCarty's living room in the Murphy Canyon neighborhood, creating a fireball that illuminated the night sky.
"I woke up to a loud explosion. My wife was screaming and she's like there's a fire," Ben McCarty said.
The couple immediately grabbed their children and pets as flames engulfed their home.
WATCH: The McCartys describe their firsthand account of the chaos in detail
@abc10news The McCarty family was asleep in their home on Sample Street when a small plane crashed into their home Thursday morning. Ben and Srujana McCarty spoke to ABC 10News about how they managed to get out of their house with the help of neighbors.
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"All I could see was fire. The roof of the house was still on fire. You could see the night sky from our living room," McCarty said.
With the front entrance blocked by debris and flames, the family frantically searched for an escape route.
"We couldn't get out the front of our house. We tried to get out the back door but unfortunately the side gate leads to the front and I could see the debris was on fire right there so we can't even open it to get out," McCarty said.
Fortunately, they found another exit point, and neighbors rushed to help, bringing a ladder and clearing a path to safety.
"We got the kids over the fence and then I jumped over the fence. They brought a ladder and we got the dogs and he eventually got onto the other side," McCarty said.
The crash destroyed the home they had lived in for three years and everything inside it. The family reflected on the cruel irony of the situation.
"Us and our kids would sit on our front porch and we'd look up and my sons would always be excited saying 'plane plane' watching the planes go by and ironically right where we were sitting is where that plane hit," McCarty said.
McCarty emphasized that while material possessions can be replaced, his family cannot. When asked if they would ever return to the home, his answer was definitive.
"Absolutely not. I'm not going to live over that flight line again — it's going to be hard to sleep at night," McCarty said.
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