2 dead in plane crash near Covelo

Two people were killed following a plane crash Friday evening in a rural area west of Covelo, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were dispatched around 6 p.m. to the 21000 block of Airport Road following a reported crash. The dispatch center later received a report that the plane was on fire and that nearby vegetation had also ignited.

First responders at the scene extinguished the fire and searched the debris field for the plane’s occupants and discovered two bodies, the department said in a news release Saturday.

The victims have not yet been identified, according to the department.

Sheriff’s officials did not immediately return requests for comment.

The agency contacted the National Transportation Safety Board, which in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, said it was investigating the crash. The NTSB identified the aircraft as a Beechcraft A-36 plane.

NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash while the Mendocino County Coroner’s Division continues its own investigation, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Officials with Cal Fire, the U.S. Forest Service, California Highway Patrol and the Round Valley Tribal Police Department assisted in the response.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center at 707-463-4086.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.