Five Killed in Plane Crash in Colorado

Five people died when a single -engine airplane crashed during a landing attempt at a northern Colorado airport on Sunday, authorities said.

The Piper PA- 46 aircraft crashed near the Erie Municipal Airport, around 25 miles northwest of Denver, said Peter Knudson, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. The crash occurred a short time before noon.

The aircraft took off from the Centennial Airport, south of Denver with five people and was attempting to land at the Erie airport, when it crashed, Knudson said, reports Reuters.

He also said that the weather was clear at the Erie airport at the time of the crash.

Three people were found dead inside the debris of the plane by the Emergency squad, said Roger Rademacher, assistant fire chief with Mountain View Fire Rescue.

One of the remaining survivors was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, while the other person was airlifted to a hospital in Denver. However, both of them died later, Rademacher said.

The names of the dead are being withheld by the Weld County Coroner's Office awaiting notification to relatives, according to the Associated Press.

The Boulder Daily Camera's website posted a photo of the crash. It showed the debris of the plane in a grassy field.

Jan Culver, a witness to the crash, said that she was with a friend in a field near the airport when the crash happened. Culver said that she heard the sound of the plane and saw it flying very low.

"We heard it sputtering," she said. "Then there was no sound. We knew it was a crash."

She also went to the crash site to help as she had some medical knowledge.

Recalling the scene, Culver said that the plane was lying upside down and some of the people were outside the plane. She could also make out that the people were injured badly, Culver said, reports AP.