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Witnesses Describe Deadly Lauderdale Plane Crash

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - Four people were killed when a small plane crashed in a wooded section near Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport over the weekend.

"The wings were wobbling, you know, like they weren't in control and I know it wasn't because of the wind and the next thing you know, it went almost vertically down and exploded," said Debbie McCabe.

"It was like a huge semi-truck crashed type of sound," said Bobby Bemis.

According to Federal Aviation Administration the Piper PA-31T, which had taken off in Orlando, went down around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the pilot radioed in that there was problem with the plane as he approached the airport.

"When he was about two miles from the runway he reported smoke in the cockpit. Shortly there after he made a transmission, it was an emergency type transmission, we don't have the exact details of it, but it was a distress call before the crash," said NTSB investigator Ralph Hicks.

The pilot was cleared for an emergency landing.

CLICK HERE to watch Oralia Ortega's report

"He was given clearance to land any runway he chose because he did make a distress call," said Hicks.

The plane never made it. It went down about a quarter mile from the runway.

Several people in the area, who saw the plane go down, ran toward the crash site to see if they could help.

"You saw the bright orange and then it was smoke everywhere. After the fireball we couldn't even see the field because it was smoke all over," said Bavon Sylvain.

"We tried to get over there as fast as we could. We all jumped a bunch of fences, got back there. Probably got about five feet away from it but everything was already in flames," said Elyssa Service.

"Our crews made an aggressive attack on the fire, extinguishing the fire within minutes. Unfortunately, it was discovered there were four souls on board and unfortunately all four perished," said Fort Lauderdale Fire Division Chief Chantal Botting.

The names of those on board the plane have not been released.

The aircraft is registered to a company in Texas. A person who answered the phone said she had no information about the plane or the crash.

The wreckage will be taken to Ft. Pierce where it will be pieced back together to determine the cause of the crash.

The NTSB says that could take between nine months and a year.

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