Two dead in fiery plane crash at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles

Two people are dead after a small plane crashed at Los Angeles’s Van Nuys Airport on Wednesday morning.

Witnesses described the craft, a CSA SportCruiser, heading nose-down towards the runway.

"They did very a very high impact, what was described as nose-first into the ground," Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott told ABC 7. "Tragically that likely quickly caused the death of both of the occupants."

Both were pronounced dead on scene.

The fire official said it was the third crash this year at the airport, and the first fatal one. There hasn’t been a deadly crash at Van Nuys in the last two decades, he said.

Firefighters arrived on the scene at 10.37am and sprayed the plane with fire-extinguishing foam, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate what happened along with the Federal Aviation Administration, and a preliminary report is expected to be released on Thursday, according to the paper.

Prior to the arrival of emergency teams, a large plume of dark smoke could be seen rising above the airport.

The crash caused the closure of one of the main runways at the airport, officials said.

The names of those involved in the wreck were not immediately made public.

Air tower controllers told FOX11 the plane was in-pattern on its descent just before the Wednesday morning crash.

Skies were clear and there was a south wind of about 10 mph at the time of the crash.

The plane was in the air for nearly 15 minutes and had flown a previous route earier in the morning without issue, according to data from FlightAware.