US: Six die as small plane crashes, bursts into flames in California
US, July 9: Six people died after a small plane crashed and burst into flames in a field near a Southern California airport before dawn Saturday.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Cessna C550 business jet crashed around 4:15 a.m. near Murrieta, roughly 80 miles (130 kilometres) southeast of Los Angeles.
According to the Riverside County Fire Department, it took firefighters more than an hour to extinguish the flames that had engulfed the plane and charred roughly an acre of vegetation just north of French Valley Airport.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office announced in a statement that all six individuals on board died at the scene. The victims were not identified immediately.
According to the FAA, the plane took off from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation.
It was the second fatal incident at the small county-owned airport in Murrieta, which has a population of around 112,000 people. On July 4, a single-engine Cessna 172 crashed in a parking lot shortly after takeoff from French Valley, killing one person and injuring three others.
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- With inputs from agencies
