Small plane crashes near Los Angeles County roadway, leaving pilot and passenger critically injured

A single-engine plane crashed Friday near El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The pilot and passenger were hospitalized with critical injuries.

The crash happened at 12:35 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The  FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.

It hasn't been confirmed whether the plane was landing or had just taken off from Hawthorne Municipal Airport.

A fire sparked by the crash was put out by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. There were no injuries on the ground, and the two people on board, neither named by fire officials, were taken to the hospital, the department posted on X.

Witness and bystander Gerald Johnson helped rescue the victims from the crash along with others.

“I had just arrived at this location and plugged my vehicle in and sat in my car, and not two minutes later I heard a loud crash. Myself and a couple other gentlemen helped pull a man out from the wreckage in hopes of getting him away from that before it exploded,” Mr. Johnson told KABC-TV.

The plane involved was built in 1958 and registered to a man in Culver City, according to the Southern California News Group.