A small private plane struggling to gain altitude after takeoff crashed into a Fourth of July crowd at a public park. One person was killed and 16 injured, some of them children picnicking with their families, firefighters said.

Five of the injured were children, and three of them were in critical condition, including an 18-month-old baby and 12-year-old girl, firefighters said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the crash "sounds completely like an accident" and Gov. Gray Davis said the pilot issued two mayday distress calls after takeoff from Brackett Field, a small airport near the park.

"The wings clipped on the trees. It went nose first. Bodies flying all over the place," said witness Javier Franco. He said two girls were trapped under the plane.

"Other people took the bodies out of the plane. I can't forget seeing the bodies on the ground," he said.

The plane hit a tree and then broke in two after it crashed, witnesses said.

The crash killed one adult. Five of the injured were children, and three of them were in critical condition, including an 18-month-old baby and 12-year-old girl, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Mark Savage. Ten of the people had minor injuries, Savage said.

The pilot and a passenger on the plane survived, said FAA spokesman Jerry Johnston. Firefighters said they were not sure how many people were on the plane.

The twin-engine Cessna 310, which seated four, crashed near a lake at Frank G. Bonnelli Regional Park, also known as Puddingstone, where hundreds of people were barbecuing and celebrating the Fourth of July. The park is about 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

People were setting up tents on the grassy area where the plane came down, said Frine Flores, who was picnicking about 300 feet away. She watched the plane crash between a picnic table and a red hammock that had been stretched between two trees.

"It was just like a big roar before it crashed and then, I can't even explain the sound at impact. It was like crunching of metal," said Flores, 32, of Pasadena. "Everyone was just crying, as if it was their family that was traumatized."

By early afternoon, the scene was strewn with both the plane's wreckage and the remains of holiday parties. Paper plates and cups were scattered across the ground. A child's push scooter was propped next to a picnic table a few feet from the wreckage.

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