ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) - A small airplane has crashed in southwestern Utah, killing the two people aboard, police said.
The accident occurred Wednesday morning near the town of Santa Clara, Washington County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Crouse said. Officials have not yet released the identities of the deceased.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the single-engine plane crashed about 11 miles southwest of St. George.
Jonathan Hawkins tells the Spectrum of St. George (https://bit.ly/Rsv7nA ) that he and his brother were mountain biking nearby when the plane sputtered and plummeted behind a ridge.
The pair called 911, then rode up a trail and yelled toward the plane on the other side of the hill, Hawkins said, but no one answered.
It’s the first fatal plane crash reported in Washington County since 2012, when four men in their 20s died seconds after their plane took off at St. George Municipal Airport runway.
Crews at midday were surveying the scene from helicopters and on the ground.
Gregor says the aircraft is registered to a St. George company but did not give further details.
Investigators don’t know yet what caused the crash.
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