Four people on-board a small plane died after the aircraft crashed into a field in western Wisconsin and caught fire. The single engine Beechcraft crashed Monday evening in the town of Alden, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, reported Reuters.
Deputies, who were notified of the accident just before 5:30 p.m., rushed to the field to find the plane in flames. Fire officials extinguished the blaze and found the remains of four people inside the wreckage.
The remains have been taken to the medical examiner's office in Anoke, Minn., where an autopsy will be conducted and the bodies will be identified, according to The Associated Press.
Witnesses saw the plane spiraling to the ground before crashing into a ball of flames. They rushed to the site to find another man in a four-wheeler trying to help, but there wasn't much they could do, according to CBS Minnesota.
The plane crashed on a property owned by Karen Olson. "I heard a plane, pounding on my door and someone said, 'A plane crashed in your field and your field is on fire,"' Olson said. "All I could see was smoke."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the crash. The sheriff's department said additional information will be released after a meeting with FAA and NTSB officials scheduled on Tuesday.
