San Rafael plane crash kills 1, critically injures another

One person was killed and a second was in critical condition following a plane crash late Saturday near San Rafael Airport in San Rafael, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Department.

In a post made Sunday morning on its official Facebook page, the Sheriff’s Department said the crash was reported shortly after 10 p.m. and involved a plane destined for San Rafael that had taken off in Minden, Nevada.

Dispatchers received numerous calls about a “bright flash of light in the sky and the power being out near San Rafael Airport,” officials said.

Callers also told dispatchers that a plane “had struck power lines near the airport.”

Sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement who responded to the crash site found a plane “down in a mucky wetlands area,” according to the Sheriff’s Department. The agency added that the location made access to the plane “difficult.”

“Power lines had been struck by the (plane’s) tailfin prior to the plane touching down on the ground. The power lines were wrapped around the plane and across the crash site,” according to the Sheriff’s Department’s post.

After workers from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. deactivated the power lines, emergency personnel from the San Rafael Fire Department were able to reach the plane and extricate a passenger who remains hospitalized in critical condition at John Muir Medical Center in Berkeley, according to Sunday’s Facebook post.

Another passenger on the plane, officials said, was pronounced dead at the crash site.

According to the plane’s manifest, there were only two people onboard the plane, the Sheriff’s Department stated.

“The Marin County Sheriff’s Department and our Coroner’s Division will work with the National Transportation Safety Board ... to ensure a thorough investigation is completed into the cause of the crash,” the agency added. “An autopsy will be scheduled to determine the cause and manner of death for the decedent.”

No additional information about the plane’s passengers was released.

The Sheriff’s Department asks that anyone with information relevant to this investigation contact the Investigations Division through the non-emergency dispatch line at 415-479-2311.

.