Three People Killed in Plane Crash Near Camp Pendleton

Three people aboard a small plane were killed today when it crashed in the Santa Ana Mountains, off the Ortega Highway and just north of Camp Pendleton.

Firefighters were dispatched at 9:22 a.m. to an area close to the Lookout Roadhouse restaurant, in the 32100 block of Ortega Highway, in response to a small fire.

They discovered the fire had been sparked by the plane crash, which occurred less than a mile south of the eatery, dispatchers with the Cleveland National Forest said.

The fire was contained to less an acre. It was not known immediately known what kind of an aircraft had crash but there were three confirmed fatalities, the Riverside County Fire Department reported.

—City News Service