A West Hills man was identified as one of the five people who was killed in a small plane crash on Catalina Island. Camilla Rambaldi reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
Authorities are working to recover the bodies of five people who were killed when a small plane crashed on Catalina Island Tuesday night off the Southern California coast.
The crash happened at around 8 p.m. Authorities said five to six people were aboard the plane when it went down about a mile west of the airport.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, they received an emergency S.O.S. alert, letting them know that someone was involved in a crash.
The plane is believed to have taken off from Santa Monica Municipal Airport and landed at the Catalina Airport about 30 miles off the Los Angeles County coast at around 6 p.m. Tuesday. The plane took off again at around 8 p.m., but it was unclear where it was headed. That's when authorities received the emergency alert.
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First responders found a crashed, twin-engine aircraft in rough, steep terrain. Five adults were found dead at the scene.
"I did see it from the air. It appeared to be a white aircraft, mostly intact," said Capt. Matthew King, of the LA County Sheriff's Department. "It was a mile from the runway. Based on debris, we can’t tell if it was from take off or attempted landing."
The plane's registered owner was identified as Ali Reza Safai, 73, of West Hills. Safai's wife identified him as one of the people on board the plane.
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A spokesperson with Proteus, a flight school at the Santa Monica Airport, said Safai rented a space for his personal aircraft at the airport. Safai owned another flight school at the airport that closed about five years ago, the spokesperson said.
"Our hearts go out to everyone suffering from this tragic loss," the statement continued.
Details about the identifies of the other individuals on the plane were not immediately available.
It is unclear what caused the crash. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.
The airfield known as the Airport in the Sky has a precarious location at an elevation of 1,602 feet on the island. It has a single 3,000-foot runway.
