Cessna Plane Crashes In California: At Least Two People Killed, Power Grid Off

Illustration of a plane crash. (Wikimedia Commons/Allen Drebert)

JAKARTA - At least two people died when a twin-engine Cessna crashed in a Southern California neighborhood on Monday afternoon local time, officials said.

"We have a few confirmed deaths, we don't know exactly how many," said Justin Matsushita, deputy fire chief for the City of Santee, citing CNN Oct. 12.

"We know there are at least two confirmed," he continued when giving a statement to reporters

Meanwhile, the shipping company and shipping service for documents and packages UPS said one of its employees was killed in the incident.

"We mourn the loss of our employee, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends," UPS said in a statement. "We also extend our condolences to the other individuals involved in this incident, and their families and friends, ' continued UPS.

Video recorded by OnScene.TV shows a UPS truck badly burned. Matsushita said emergency responders were looking for victims as they determined the extent of the damage to the house.

"Don't be too obvious, but it was a pretty brutal scene for our people, and we tried to sort it out," explains Matsushita.

It is not clear how many people were inside the Cessna 340A. "We believe that the wounds are unsustainable for whoever is inside," Matsushita said.

Several vehicles caught fire when emergency crews arrived at the scene, officials said. Debris is strewn across the housing block, and electricity has been turned off to about 10 homes in the area as investigators evaluate the damage.

Two homes in the San Diego County neighborhood were hardest hit by the plane and two or three others were damaged. The fire was still visible several hours after the accident.

Meanwhile, the San Diego County Fire Department and sheriff's department responded to the accident, which occurred near a high school. Santana High School tweeted that all students were safe and the incident happened a few blocks away.

However, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department warned residents to stay away from the area. The Red Cross has set up temporary shelters for neighborhood residents who have been displaced.

Separately, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane was suspected to have crashed around 12:14 p.m. local time.

The FAA said it would release the plane's tail number after investigators verified it at the crash site.

"The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates. No agency has identified the individuals involved in the plane crash," the FAA said.