Several dead after small plane crashes near Wright Brothers National Memorial

Officials said several passengers were killed Saturday when a single-engine plane crashed and caught fire at Wright Brothers National Memorial First Flight Airport in North Carolina.

The crash occurred at 5 p.m. in a wooded area at the airport, which is near the town of Kill Devil Hills, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a news release.

“Eyewitnesses reported that the aircraft attempted to land at the airport,” NPS said. “After the crash there was a fire and the plane burned.”

The Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and other local fire departments helped put out the fire after the plane crashed.

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Nadia Popruzhenko told WVEC-TV that she was at the controls when she saw the plane approaching to land.

“At first I thought he was really high, and suddenly he just went down a little too fast,” Popruzhenko said. “This one went down so quickly I thought it was too low.”

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It was unclear how many people were on board the plane at the time of the crash, although NPS confirmed “multiple fatalities.”

The Aviation History Monument at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The airport is closed until further notice, the park service said, adding that the Wright Brothers National Memorial will remain closed Sunday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration was also notified.

The Wright Flyer takes off for the first time in 1903's “Kitty Hawk,” with Orville taking the controls and Wilbur running alongside. (Wilbur and Orville Wright via National Park Service)

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The Wright Brothers National Memorial was built in the area where Wilbur and Orville Wright “conducted a series of experiments that led to the world's first powered heavier-than-air controlled flight three years later,” according to NPS.