Sunday, December 19, 2004

Small Plane Strikes KFI Radio Tower, Killing 2

LA MIRADA, Calif. -- A small plane crashed Sunday morning into a radio station tower, killing two people aboard and temporarily knocking the station off the air, officials said.

The single-engine Cessna plane struck the KFI Radio tower about 9:49 a.m. and the tower tumbled to the ground, said Andrea Hawkins, a dispatch supervisor with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Television footage showed the 900-foot tall red-and-white tower in pieces on the ground surrounded by plane wreckage.

A man and woman were pronounced dead, Hawkins said. A small fire also was extinguished.

KFI, a talk and news station, was off the air for about an hour following the accident, said Leslie Lotto, an editor at the station.