By Isabel Keane
Six victims who died in a fiery small plane crash amid heavy fog in Southern California on Saturday have been identified, authorities said.
The Cessna C550 business jet went down around 4:15 a.m. near the French Valley Airport in Murrieta, about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office identified those aboard as Abigail Tellez-Vargas, 33, of Murrieta; Riese Lenders, 25, of Rancho Palos Verdes; Manuel Vargas-Regalado, 32, of Temecula; Lindsey Gleiche, 31, of Huntington Beach; Alma Razick, 51, of Temecula; and Ibrahem Razick, 46, of Temecula, the Murrieta Patch reported.
Lenders and Vargas-Regalado were pilots, KTLA reported.
All six were pronounced dead at the scene.
Deputies found the plane engulfed in flames that scorched nearly one acre of vegetation. The blaze was contained around 5:30 a.m., the Riverside County Fire Department tweeted.
The flight had taken off from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
Heavy fog blanketed the area, which may have caused the plane to miss the runway and crash several hundred yards from the airport. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
It was the second fatal plane crash at the county-owned airport in Murrieta.
On Tuesday, a pilot died and three passengers were injured when a single-engine Cessna 172 went down in the airport parking lot, KCLA News reported.
Authorities identified the victim as Jared Newman, 39, of Temecula. The passengers were his children, who suffered serious to minor injuries.
Newman was reportedly flying the aircraft under a training license, which is prohibited by federal regulations.
