CORONA, Calif. (AP) -- A twin-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff Thursday in Riverside County and two people were believed dead, authorities said.
The Cessna 411, which seats as many as eight people, left Corona Municipal Airport at about 2:30 p.m. and went down a mile west of the airport near the Prado Dam area, said Diana Joubert, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Investigators with the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board reached the wreckage in a wooded, marshy region, said Jerry Johnston, FAA regional operations officer.
Witnesses saw the plane plunge to the ground, said Howard Plagens of the NTSB.
``They saw a wing dip down to the right. They saw the airplane nose fall down toward the ground,'' he told KCAL-TV. ``The airplane went straight into the ground at that point. They saw smoke.''
The two believed to be dead were a man and woman who bought gas at the Corona airport, said Ted Yancu, battalion chief for the city's fire department. Their bodies were in the plane, but had not been removed, Yancu said.
It was unclear whether the plane originally left the Corona airport and where it was heading, authorities said.
Corona is about 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
