Crash into houses fatal to 3 on plane

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Three people died and two were injured, one critically, when a small plane carrying them home from a cheerleading competition slammed into two Southern California homes and sparked a raging fire, authorities and witnesses said.

The twin- engine plane with five occupants had just taken off from Riverside Municipal Airport at 4: 40 p. m. Monday to return to San Jose after the weekend Disneyland event when it crashed about a mile away from the airport in the residential neighborhood, Riverside Fire Chief Michael Moore said.

One of the survivors was hospitalized with critical burns and the other was in stable condition, police officer Ryan Railsback said Tuesday. He said the two women were recovering after surgery.

The remains of a woman were removed from the wreckage, which still was smoldering the morning after the crash, Railsback said.

The bodies of a man and a teenage girl remained at the site of the crash that destroyed two suburban houses and sent debris flying down the block of single- family homes.