(Reuters) - Officials in California pulled five bodies on Sunday from a small plane that crashed in the central part of the state, police said.
The bodies were found in the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in an almond orchard in the city of Bakersfield, some 115 miles northwest of Los Angeles, around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday (0330 GMT Sunday), said Kern County Sheriff Sergeant Mark King.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said a single-engine Piper PA32 aircraft had disappeared from radar about 10 miles south of Bakersfield around 4 p.m. while en route to the Henderson Executive Airport near Las Vegas, Nevada.
Officials at Los Angeles International Airport had advised local authorities that a pilot had issued a mayday call before falling out of contact near Bakersfield.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have begun an investigation, officials said.