One of Romania’s richest men was killed in a plane crash on Sunday, after the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 he was flying crashed in the outskirts of Milan shortly after take-off. Dan Petrescu, his wife, son and five others were all killed in the crash.
With an estimated net worth of over $1.2 billion, Petrescu had maintained a low profile for much of his life. He fled Romania during the reign of dictator Nicolae Ceausesci, but later returned after the Romanian Revolution. He was a business partner of ex-tennis star Ion Tiriac and was active in the Romanian real estate sector, with land in Bucharest. He held dual Romanian and German citizenship.
He maintained a low profile, giving no interviews and reportedly driving modest cars, Romania Insider reported.
An avid aviation enthusiast, Petrescu was reportedly piloting the plane before it crashed. Early reports said the plane crashed into an office building.
According to Romania Journal, the list of victims included Petrescu, his second wife Regina Balzat Petrescu, his son Dan Ștefan Petrescu, Dan Stefan’s Canadian friend Julien Brossard, Filippo Nascimbene (manager at the consultancy company Start Hub in Milan), Nascimbene’s wife Claire Stephanie Caroline Alexandrescu (advertising manager at Pernod Ricard), their one-year-old baby boy, Raphael and Carolina Alexandrescu’s mother, Miruna Anca Wanda Lozinschi.
This is the third aircraft crash this year to have resulted in the death of a billionaire. In March, French tycoon Olivier Dassault was killed in a helicopter crash. That same month, the Czech Republic’s richest man, billionaire Gregory Harms, was also killed in a helicopter crash.
