Small plane crash near San Diego leaves at least two dead, damages homes

At least two homes appeared to have been destroyed by an ensuing fire, where the crash occurred, the city of Santee, California, reported on Twitter.

View of San Diego. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
View of San Diego.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

 A small aircraft crashed blocks from a high school campus near San Diego on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring two others, while also destroying homes, officials and local media said.

At least two homes appeared to have been destroyed by an ensuing fire, the city of Santee, California, where the crash occurred, said on Twitter.

"At approximately 12:00 pm today, a small twin engine plane crashed into two residential homes in Santee," the tweet added.

The plane, a C340 twin-engine Cessna, was headed to Yuma, Arizona, from Montgomery Field in San Diego, but had issues and was trying to land at Gillespie Field, which is near the high school, when it crashed, according to NBC San Diego. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the plane.

 The wreckage of the L-410 plane is seen at the crash site near the town of Menzelinsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia October 10, 2021. (credit: VIA REUTERS)
The wreckage of the L-410 plane is seen at the crash site near the town of Menzelinsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia October 10, 2021. (credit: VIA REUTERS)

Several vehicles were burned, but firefighters were able to put out the blaze before it spread to other houses. Two deaths were confirmed and two other people were taken to a hospital.

Santana High School, located three blocks from the crash, said on Twitter that all its students were "secure."

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said a few streets were closed because of the crash and that the Federal Aviation Administration and the ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​National Transportation Safety Board would be handling the probe into the incident.

Further details on what led to the crash were not immediately available.

"It's a pretty brutal scene for our guys and we're trying to comb through it," a deputy chief with the Santee Fire Department said.