The two crew members ejected from the jet, and only seven people, including the pilots, were injured. 
This map shows the approximate location of the crash. 
"I work right across the street from the apartment complex," iReporter Chris Johnson said. "As soon as I saw the smoke, I ran out and took pictures before the police showed up." 
Smoke billows from apartment buildings as firefighters battle blazes. Virginia Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Riley said five buildings were heavily damaged. 
iReporter David Bryan saw smoke from his hotel balcony in Virginia Beach and shot this photo. "You could smell the jet fuel, and all we could see was the black smoke," he said. 
One of the plane's seats lies near the crash site. Retired rescue squad member Pat Kavanaugh said he and others found one of the two plane crew members who ejected. 
Spectators watch as smoke billows from an apartment building in Virginia Beach. 
Fire suppression foam covers wreckage and debris near the burned-out apartments. 
Firefighters from the city of Virginia Beach and the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire and Emergency Services respond to the crash of the jet, which was assigned to a Naval Air Station Oceana squadron. - The F-18 crashed into a Virginia Beach, Virginia, neighborhood in April
- This is the first time two unrelated F-18 engine failures have occurred at the same time
- Though the jet hit an apartment complex, no one was killed
(CNN) -- A Navy F-18 fighter jet that crashed into a Virginia Beach neighborhood in April experienced dual engine failure, marking the first time an F-18 has had two unrelated catastrophic engine failures at the same time, according to a report released on the investigation.
In the first five seconds of flight, the jet's right engine stalled from a fuel leak, the investigators said. The pilot tried to compensate with extra thrust from the left engine but it also failed due to an unrelated problem with the afterburner.
"It was not a single failure but an extremely unusual and complex multisystem emergency," Rear Adm. Ted Branch said at a press conference Monday.
With a failed right engine and a malfunctioning left engine that was not generating sufficient thrust, the aircraft quickly lost altitude. When the F-18 dropped to 50 feet the crew ejected.
One second later the jet crashed into an apartment complex, but no one was killed. The whole ordeal, from takeoff to crash, lasted only 70 seconds.
If the right engine alone had failed, it is highly unlikely the aircraft would have crashed, Branch said.
"We have never had this kind of unrelated dual engine mishap in the F-18," he said. "It's the first time its ever happened with this aircraft."
Emergency procedures will be revised to take this rare occurrence into account, he said.
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