4 killed in small plane crash at California's Corona airport
Xinhua | Updated: 2020-01-23 09:56
LOS ANGELES - Four people died in an plane crash incident Wednesday noon at Corona Municipal Airport, 75 kilometers east of Los Angeles downtown, US state of California, local authorities said.
The crash was reported at 12:11 pm local time, according to Corona Police Department. The plane with four on board crashed to the ground after turning off and burned on fire in the brush at the end of runway of the airport.
Corona firefighter John DeYoe told reporters on the scene that there were no survivors in the fatal accident and there was no information about the plane and victim so far.
He said the cause of the accident was under investigation, while saying "apparently the plane was taking off and it did strike the fence over there, flipping the plane and striking the land behind me."
Witness Dorothe Voll, a pilot, was quoted by the local Press-Enterprise news organization as saying that she saw the plane strike a fence, turn over and quickly catch fire.
The plane fell down no more than about 3 feet (0.91 meters) off the ground, she said.
"He (pilot) didn't pull back and he was too fast at the end of the runway," Voll said. "And then he flipped and everybody was running and it started on fire. Then you had two explosions. We brought over fire extinguishers but it was all engulfed."
Ian Gregor, spokesman of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said the agency will investigate the crash.
