All six people aboard a small corporate jet died when the aircraft crashed and burned in a field near an airport outside Los Angeles early on Saturday, local and federal authorities said.
The aircraft, a Cessna C550 business jet, was traveling from Las Vegas and crashed near French Valley Airport, about 137 km south of Los Angeles, at around 4:15am (0815 GMT), the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Details of the passengers were not immediately available.
Radar data from flight tracking website FlightAware shows just one business jet traveling from Las Vegas to French Valley at the time. That plane circled once near the field before descending.
The sheriff's office in Riverside County, where the French Valley Airport is located, said officials responding to the crash located an aircraft fully engulfed in flames in a field and that six occupants were pronounced deceased at the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, the FAA said.
The remains of the aircraft that was crashed and burned in a field near French Valley Airport, outside Los Angeles. Picture courtesy of KTLA5