By Jorge Casuso

October 9, 2024 -- Five people died when a small place returning to Santa Monica Airport crashed shortly after taking off from Catalina Island Tuesday night, according to the FAA and LA County Sheriff's Departments.

The Sheriff's Avalon Station reported it received a 911 SOS emergency notification from a cell phone shortly after 8 p.m.

“The cellular device stated the user’s cellphone has been involved in a collision with possible injuries and provided a location as GPS coordinates,” the sheriff's department said in a statement.

Deputies from the station, the LA County and Avalon fire departments and local search and rescue responded and located the wreckage of a twin engine aircraft about a mile west of the airport, Sheriff's Deputies said.

“While at the crash site, five adults were located and pronounced deceased at the scene,” deputies said. The wreckage was located in “rough, steep terrain."

The names of the dead were not immediately released.

An FAA official told City News Service that the Beechcraft 95-B55 aircraft crashed shortly after it departed at around 8 p.m. with five people on board.

“The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide further updates,” the FAA spokesperson said.

An FAA Accident and Incident Notification posted Tuesday stated the "aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances."

Earlier in the evening, the aircraft tracking website FlightAware reported the plane took off from the Santa Monica Airport at 5:57 p.m. and landed at the Catalina airport at 6:20 p.m.

After it took off from Avalon's airport, online logs show the aircraft got a short distance from the airport's runway before dropping off radar coverage, according to the report.

Flights are generally prohibited at Catalina Airport after the airport closes at 5 p.m.