7 of same family killed in small plane crash in US

According to preliminary information, the Cessna C421 was flying from St. Louis to Destin, Florida, on Saturday when it lost its right engine, Kathleen Bergen from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

The plane was diverted to Demopolis Municipal Airport but crashed about two miles short of the runway, Bergen said. Seven people were on board the plane and all of them died, CNN quoted Bergen as saying.

The dead were a couple and their five children who ranged in age from 2 to 10. Their names had not been released. Marengo County Coroner Stuart Eatmon said the father was the pilot. The bodies were burned "beyond recognition," he said.

"It's going to take a long time (to investigate) since the wreckage is so deep in the woods," Nick Worrell of the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday night. The National Transport Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are looking into the deadly crash, which occurred Saturday evening near Demopolis, Alabama.

Eatmon said it took hours for officials to remove the victims from the plane. The wreckage was discovered early on Sunday, but rescue workers could not remove the bodies for about 12 hours because they had to wait for the plane to cool down. Officials had to use an infrared camera to locate the bodies, he said.