At least 4 killed, 5 missing after plane crashes into California home

Los Angeles: One person was killed and four others were injured on Monday after a small plane crashed into a residential neighborhood near the airport in the city of Riverside in California, destroying a home and touching off fires in several others, local news media reported.

Images broadcast by KABC-TV from the scene showed firefighters covering, what appeared to be, a body with a tarp and pouring water on the home in Riverside, about 60 miles (100 kilometres) east of Los Angeles.

The station reported that another victim who was pulled from a window of the home and put on a stretcher appeared to be suffering from severe injuries.

The Riverside Press Enterprise newspaper, citing fire officials, said that one person had died and that four others suffered injuries.

Ian Gregor, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration, said that a Cessna 310 crashed "under unknown circumstances" about a half mile northeast of Riverside Municipal Airport.

Gregor said the plane crashed shortly after taking off from the airport, bound for the city of San Jose in Northern California and that the incident would be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.

It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the plane when it took off. According to aviation websites, the Cessna 310 is a twin-engine plane that can carry up to six people.