Originally published on KTLA
A pilot was injured after a plane crash in San Bernardino Friday night, officials said.
Authorities received a called around 8 p.m. of a plane down, after a pilot radioed in to the San Bernardino International Airport saying he needed to make an emergency landing due to engine failure, said Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
The plane crashed about 1.5 miles south-southwest of the airport in the Santa Ana Riverbed, Sherwin said.
The pilot, who initially said he was the only occupant of the plane, was extricated from the wreckage by fire crews.
He had moderate to significant injuries and was transported to a local trauma center, according to Sherwin.
The department continued to search the area for a possible second occupant of the plane, Sherwin said, because after the crash, the pilot suggested there may have been a second person on board. But Sherwin said that suggestion may have been due to the pilot’s injuries.
There was a small fuel leak coming from the plane and a Hazmat team was on scene, according to the department.
Sky5 was overhead as fire crews parsed through the wreckage of the significantly damaged plane, the left-hand door of which appeared to have come off.
