Two dead following plane crash Saturday morning

AFTON, Minn. (AP) — Investigators are trying to determine what caused a small plane to crash near a home in Minnesota, killing both people on board.

The accident happened just before 9:45 a.m. Saturday in Afton, a town of about 2,900 residents 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Minneapolis. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that it received several calls reporting what sounded like an explosion.

Responders found the plane engulfed in flames in the yard of a home, near the attached garage, the sheriff’s office said. After the fire was extinguished, the bodies of an 85-year-old man from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and a 68-year-old man from Baytown Township, Minnesota, were found.

No one on the ground was hurt.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

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