Nathaniel Stiles, a youth pastor, leading a game night at a nearby church, said it’s a “pure act of God” none of the eight residents of an apartment building in southwestern New Hampshire were hurt after a small airplane crashed into the residential complex.

On October 21, 2022, a single-engine Beechcraft Sierra plane crashed into a building in Keene, tragically killing the two aboard the aircraft. However, no one else was harmed in the incident.

The wreckage from the calamity certainly could have been much more widespread. Stiles, the youth pastor at Hope Chapel, a mere 30 feet from where the crash occurred, was hosting a group of kids playing a dodgeball game at the house of worship. He told MSN he looked out the window of the church building to see “red flames and bright skies,” a scene that caused the kids to “go into mass panic.”

“The kids are just deathly afraid and scared and traumatized from what they are seeing 50 feet away from us,” he recalled. Thankfully, in addition to the safety of the apartment complex residents, none of the youth group members were harmed by the crash.“It’s a miracle and a pure act of God that no one within the church nor any of the residents of the apartment complex walked with any injuries,” said Stiles. “It is a miracle in God’s hands.”

The pastor also said, “We are so thankful to God for getting every child and every person out of there alive. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost their home[s] and the pilot and passenger who lost their lives, and kids who watched as this tragedy unfolded.” The building itself is significantly damaged, leaving the four families in the space without homes.

One resident, Scott Gauthier, told WBZ-TV, “Almost all of our stuff is ruined, but that’s just material things that are easy to replace. Everybody got out — that was the best.” Gauthier said he heard a crash and saw the whole roof was on fire and spreading quickly.

The cause of the crash was not immediately apparent. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are looking into how and why the collision occurred.

According to the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration, the small aircraft was owned by Monadnock Aviation. This Keene-based company rents out airplanes for charter flights and flight instruction. The crashed plane took off from Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene and was headed north.

Imagine losing all of your possessions in an instant. Everything you once held near and dear to your heart goes up in flames. Ultimately, the material possessions you lost don’t matter; some of them are replaceable. What’s most important for Scott Gauthier, Nathaniel Stiles, and the youth of Hope Chapel is that they have their lives. Unfortunately, two people didn’t survive the crash, and their families will miss them dearly.

Please be in prayer for the loved ones of the two killed in the crash and the Keene residents whose homes were destroyed in the accident.