A child and four adults died in a plane crash near the Wright Brother’s National Memorial in North Carolina.
The National Park Service (NPS) announced on Saturday, Sept. 28 that a single-engine airplane crashed into a wooded area near the Wright Brothers National Memorial First Flight Airport in the town of Kill Devil Hills around 5 p.m. local time.
According to the NPS, eyewitnesses said the plane was “attempting to land at the airport” before it crashed and caused a fire that was extinguished by the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and other local departments.
There were five passengers aboard the plane, including one minor, when it crashed. “There were no survivors,” a NPS spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE. The agency said it plans on releasing names in the “coming days.”
A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) — which is investigating the incident — confirmed that the plane was a Cirrus SR22 airplane that attempted to land on the airport’s runway 21.
“It was a multi-leg flight, with the last departure from Dare County Regional Airport,” the NTSB said, noting that the plane did not land on its first runway approach. “The crash occurred during the second approach. There was a post-crash fire.”
“Two NTSB investigators arrived at the accident site Sunday to document the airplane wreckage, which will then be moved to a secure facility for further evaluation,” the department added.
NTSB Aviation Accident Investigator Ryan Enders said, per NBC affiliate WAVY-TV, that the airplane “made a left turn and impacted trees adjacent to the left side of the runway” during its second attempt.
The NTSB is asking witnesses to contact them with surveillance video or other information pertaining to the crash. The federal agency also noted that a preliminary report is expected within 30 days of the crash.
The First Flight Airport remains closed and is set to reopen on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 9 a.m., per the NPS.
