STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The two people onboard a small plane who died after the aircraft crashed into a mobile home park in Steamboat Springs Monday have been identified.
Dan Dunn, 67, and Jessica Pauline Melton, 42, were identified Tuesday as the two victims who died in the crash. None of the residents in the West Acres Mobile Home Park were injured.
The twin-engine Cessna airplane is believed to have taken off from Longmont and was en route to Ogden, Utah, when the Cessna 421 experienced an engine problem and crashed into the mobile home park near the Steamboat Springs Airport/Bob Adams Field (SBS) Monday afternoon.
According to Steamboat Springs Radio, the plane crashed between two mobile home trailers, causing an "inferno" that spread to the two trailers. The city said its full on-duty shift of 10 firefighters and numerous off-duty personnel responded to the scene.
The plane's remnants were still under a tent in one of the mobile homes' yards. Debris and ash littered the ground Tuesday morning, and a street sign was burnt. The smell of smoke lingered in the air.
A West Acres resident told Denver7 that the people who lived in the two homes destroyed by the fire were at work when it happened.
The official cause of the crash is under investigation. However, according to Routt County Emergency Communications, the plane was reportedly experiencing an engine problem.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will give a preliminary report on what happened. Still, the NTSB said a final report could take up to two years as they look into the pilot, the plane and the operating environment.
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