SANTA CATALINA ISLAND, Calif. (CNS) - Recovery efforts were continuing Wednesday at the site of a plane crash on Santa Catalina Island that killed all five people aboard the aircraft.
The twin-engine Beechcraft 95-B55 crashed shortly after it departed from Catalina Airport in Avalon around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Federal Aviation Administration Public Affairs Specialist Rick Breitenfeldt told City News Service.
The aircraft went down about a mile west of the airport.
"Five people were on board," Breitenfeldt said. "The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide further updates."
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Avalon Station said it received a 911 SOS emergency notification from a cell phone that stated its user may have been involved in a collision with possible injuries.
"Avalon Station deputies responded to the location along with Los Angeles County Fire Department, Avalon Search and Rescue and Avalon City Fire Department members," according to the sheriff's department. "Under a unified command, they were able to locate the wreckage of a twin-engine aircraft approximately one mile west of Catalina Island Airport.
"While at the crash site, five adults were located and pronounced deceased at the scene."
Crews suspended the recovery operation overnight due to darkness, and resumed efforts after daybreak Wednesday, officials said. According to the sheriff's department, "Due to the rough, steep terrain, the scene is being secured until the arrival of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Emergency Services Detail members."
The names of the dead were not immediately available.
According to FAA records, the plane was registered to a man named Ali Safai of West Hills, who was previously a flight instructor at now-defunct Santa Monica Aviation based at Santa Monica Airport.
According to the FlightAware flight-tracking website, the Beechcraft airplane took off from Santa Monica Airport shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday and arrived at Catalina Airport about 20 minutes later.
Catalina Airport is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and aircraft operations are generally prohibited at all other times or when the airport is unattended.
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