(KMJ) – Five people were killed Saturday when their single-engine plane crashed in an almond orchard south of Bakersfield
The Kern County Sheriff’s Department says the victims’ bodies were recovered from the crash scene in the orchard near Panama Lane and Buena Vista Road. The coroner’s office has yet released the identities of the victims. But several media reports from the Bay Area say the victims were a family of five from Gilroy.
Authorities found aircraft debris scattered in the orchard hours after the small plane sent out a mayday call and disappeared from radar.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the single-engine Piper PA32 about 4 p.m. as it was flying from Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose to Henderson Executive Airport near Las Vegas, an FAA spokesman said.
Bad weather may have been a factor. A meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford says it was rainy and cloudy in the area south of Bakersfield around the time the plane went off radar.
