Crash of small plane kills 4 in New Mexico

Albuquerque: A small airplane crashed while making a landing approach on Friday outside the southwestern New Mexico town of Silver City, killing all four people aboard and sparking a grass fire that prompted the evacuation of a nearby mobile home park. Nobody on the ground was hurt in the accident, which occurred shortly before 4 p.m. at the Whiskey Creek Airport east of Silver City, home of Western New Mexico University, state police spokesman Sergeant Damyan Brown said. A propane tank adjacent to the airport exploded when the plane slammed into it, touching off the grass fire. Authorities evacuated the adjacent trailer park as a precaution, Brown said.

The pilot and three other people aboard the plane all died, but their identities were not immediately available, he said. The cause of the crash was under investigation.