FAA: 14 killed in small plane crash in Montana

In this picture provided by Martha Guidoni via The Montana Standard, a fire burns inside the Holy Cross Cemetery after a small, singe-engine plane crashed in an area just south of the Bert Mooney Airport in Butte, Mont. on Sunday, March 22, 2009. Seventeen people, including several children, were killed in the incident, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

LOS ANGELES, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A total of 14 people, including seven children, were killed early Sunday when a small plane crashed near an airport in the northwestern state of Montana, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed Sunday night.

The single-engine Pilatus PC12 plane from Northern California crashed in a cemetery around 2:30 pm local time (20:30 GMT) in Butte, about 100 km south of the state capital Helena, said an FAA spokesman.

FAA operations officer Karen Byrd said the dead were seven Children and seven adults. Kristi Dunks, an investigator for the Southwest Regional Office of the National Transportation Safety Board, said there were no survivors in the crash.

The number of dead had been put at 17.

The aircraft departed from Oroville in Northern California probably for a ski vacation in Montana, but the pilot canceled his flight plan and headed for Butte, the FAA said.

The plane was attempting to land at the airport when it crashed, and officials at the airport said they had no radio contact with the plane, according to Dunks.

Authorities were tight-lipped about the crash, saying an investigation is under way and the bodies of the dead had not been recovered by Sunday evening. Witnesses said there was a harrowing scene at the crash site.