Five people are dead after a small plane crashed on Catalina Island off California on Tuesday, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday the twin-engine Beechcraft 95 crashed shortly after it departed from Catalina Airport in Avalon at around 8 p.m.
Soon afterward, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said its Avalon station received a 911 emergency notification from a cellphone indicating that its user had been involved in a collision with possible injuries and providing GPS coordinates.
A joint search-and-rescue team of Avalon station deputies, Los Angeles County fire personnel, Avalon Search and Rescue workers and Avalon City Fire Department members found the plane about a mile west of Catalina Airport, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.
The five adults were found dead, the release said. The names of the victims, their relation to one another and the flight’s destination were not released.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that it will investigate the crash. The NTSB will request radar data, weather information, maintenance records and the pilot’s medical records.
The NTSB also said a preliminary report containing factual information gathered during the initial phase of the investigation is expected to be released within 30 days, while a final report, including a probable cause of the crash, won’t be disclosed for 12 to 24 months.
Santa Catalina Island, part of the Channel Islands, is about 22 miles southwest of Los Angeles. Catalina Island Airport occupies a 1,602-foot-tall mountaintop at the center of the island and has a single, 3,000-foot-long runway.
