Six people were killed when the small plane they were aboard crashed in California early Saturday morning, officials said.
The Cessna C550 business jet crashed at around 4:15 a.m. local time near the French Valley Airport in Murrieta, California in Riverside County. The craft was “down in a field” and “fully involved in fire,” the Riverside County Fire Department tweeted on Saturday. The fire burned “approximately one acre of vegetation” and was contained at about 5:35 a.m.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that all six passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The passengers have not been identified.
The plane took off from the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
This is the second crash in the area in less than a week. CBS Los Angeles reported that another Cessna crashed near the French Valley airport shortly before 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. One person was killed and three were injured. The person who died was 39-year-old Temecula resident Jared Newman, the father of the three surviving passengers, according to CBS Los Angeles. He was reportedly operating the aircraft under a training license, which is prohibited by federal regulations.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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