HONOLULU (AP) - Two people have died in a plane crash on Molokai, a Hawaiian island located between Oahu and Maui, fire officials said.
The plane crashed Sunday afternoon due to “unknown circumstances” while on its way to the Molokai Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.
The plane crashed about 4 miles (6 kilometers) west of the airport, Kenitzer said.
Officials were notified by the Molokai air traffic control tower that communication with the plane was lost.
Maui fire Chief Edward Taomoto said the plane, a Cessna 206, was too badly burned to identify, but crews were able to confirm that two people died at the scene.
“The aircraft burned up after impact,” Taomoto said. “I believe that police have secured the site and they’ve left the bodies at the scene for investigators.”
Crews reported low cloud ceilings and fog down to the road when they responded to the crash, Taomoto said.
“It was probably raining hard earlier because crews couldn’t use the firetrucks to navigate the muddy roads, so they had to use the all-terrain vehicles in order to locate the wreckage site,” Taomoto said.
The Maui Fire Department, Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
The crash is the fourth fatal air incident on or around the island in the past 14 months.
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