APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. — Authorities say six people were on board a small plane that crashed into a mountain east of Phoenix. There was no apparent sign of survivors, they said.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeau said Wednesday that preliminary reports indicate the twin-engine plane arrived at Mesa’s Falcon Field to pick up three children and refuel. He said a pilot, a mechanic and another adult were also on board.
People began calling 911 around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to report an explosion near the peak of a mountain, and flames could be seen from the rugged terrain hours later.
The Rockwell AC-69 was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford, Ariz.
A man who answered the phone Wednesday night at Ponderosa Aviation declined to comment.
Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site in rugged terrain reported finding two debris fields on fire, suggesting that the plane broke apart on impact, the Pinal County sheriff’s office said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the plane had just departed from Falcon Field when it crashed about 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix.
Kenitzer said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash.
Pinal County sheriff’s spokeswoman Angelique Graham said people heard an explosion near the Flat Iron area close to Lost Dutchman State Park.
“People said it sounded like fireworks going off,” Graham said.
Some witnesses told Phoenix-area television stations they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains. The elevation is about 5,000 feet at the Superstition Mountains’ highest point.
Video showed several fires burning on the mountainside, where heavy brush is common.
