1 dead after plane crashes into cellphone tower near Corona

A small, homemade airplane crashed into a cellphone tower in Riverside County, leaving one person dead and a woman injured, authorities said.

Shortly after 12 p.m., the plane struck the tower -- which is designed to look like a tree -- near Lake Matthews in an unincorporated area of Corona, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

One person, whose identity was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A woman was ejected from the plane and hospitalized with moderate injuries, fire officials said.

Blanca Hill, whose home sits next to the cellphone tower, told KCBS-TV that she heard the boom of the crash, rushed to the scene and saw the woman who was thrown from the plane.

The woman pleaded for assistance, Hill recounted, “‘Help, help! Somebody, please! Help!’”

“It was very, very frustrating because I was so close to her, but I couldn’t do anything,” Hill told the station.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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