An eight-seat private plane crashed at the Santa Monica Airport on Sunday evening and burst into flames, causing an unknown number of fatalities, according to the Santa Monica Fire Department.
“It is an unsurvivable accident,” fire department spokeswoman Bridget Lewis told TheWrap. “If there were anybody on board, they most likely did not survive it.”
Lewis said the plane, a Citation Cessna coming from Haley, Idaho, overshot the runway to the right coming in on approach at 6:20 pm, and crashed into one of the hangars. The crash caused the hangar to catch on fire and it collapsed shortly thereafter, she said.
Many Hollywood executives and celebrities use the Santa Monica airport, but fire officials said they were unsure of how many passengers were aboard or their identities.
The Federal Aviation Administration has a passenger manifest, but that information was being held by the National Transportation Safety Board, which will investigate the accident.
The plane is registered to a real estate company based in Alabama, said Lewis.
The Santa Monica Airport has been closed since the accident occurred, she said.
This article will be updated as more information comes in….
