Officials said multiple passengers died Saturday when a single-engine plane crashed and caught fire at Wright Brothers National Memorial First Flight Airport in North Carolina.

The crash occurred at 5 p.m. in a wooded area of ​​the airport, which is located near the town of Kill Devil Hills, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a news release.

“Eyewitnesses reported that the plane attempted to land at the airport,” the NPS reports. “After the crash, a fire broke out and the plane burned down.”

The Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and other local fire departments helped extinguish the blaze following the plane crash.

Ohio judge approves $600 million settlement for residents near train derailment in burning East Palestine

Nadia Popruzhenko told WVEC-TV she was driving when she saw the plane descending.

Read on the Fox News app

“At first I thought he was really high, and then suddenly he dropped a little too fast,” Popruzhenko said. “This one came down so fast I thought it was too low.”

A 21-year-old mountain climber died during the filming of the famous “Close Encounters” Location: National Park Service

It is unclear how many people were on board the plane at the time of the crash, although the NPS confirmed that “multiple passengers died.”

The park service said the airport is closed until further notice, adding that Wright Brothers National Monument will be closed on Sunday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration was also notified.

The Wright Brothers National Monument was built on the site where Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted “a series of experiments that three years later resulted in the world’s first heavier-than-air controlled flight,” according to the NPS.

Original article source: Many people died when a small plane crashed near the First Flight Airport. Wright Brothers National Memorial