Small Plane Crashes on Catalina; 4 Killed
Two adults and two children died Thursday afternoon when their single-engine airplane crashed in a steep, remote canyon on Santa Catalina Island, authorities said.
The four-seat Cessna 172 crashed in Silver Canyon, about two miles west of Avalon Harbor, said Jerry Johnston, a Federal Aviation Administration regional operations officer. Officials said the plane crashed into the side of a cliff at an altitude of about 800 feet.
The plane had taken off from Torrance Airport, Johnston said. Initial reports indicated that the plane may have landed on the island and was returning to the mainland when the accident occurred.
The names of the crash victims and information about the ownership of the plane were not released.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department rescue team was dispatched to the scene about 6 p.m. Thursday. Deputies said they examined the wreckage, but they were unable to remove the victims because of the rugged terrain and the poor weather conditions, said Sgt. Vincent Callier.
“There was a lot of fog and other weather problems,” Callier said. “It was too dangerous to finish up. They’ll have to wait until morning before they go back out there.”
Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will also be sent to the site this morning to study the debris in an effort to determine what caused the crash.
Sheriff’s deputies will remove the bodies, which will be turned over to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
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