Two people are dead after a plane crashed near Vernon airport Saturday afternoon.

Police say the small twin-engine aircraft came down in a sports field adjacent to the airport shortly after takeoff.

“It appears the airplane touched the ground, then cart-wheeled and then burst into flames on contact,” RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said. “I’m told there was two people on board. Both perished in the crash.”

Vernon resident Kevin Gibbs said damage to the plane was extensive.

“There was no airplane left, you couldn’t tell it was an airplane except for the top tip of the tail wing,” he said.

“The engine quit and just started spiralling down and just hit the ground, but he must have skidded somehow because I could see the tire mark in the grass after it was all done.”

The victims have not been identified.

No one else was injured in the crash.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating.

With files from CBC and Castanet