Escondido

At least two people were killed Monday when a single-engine plane crashed into a rugged hillside north of Escondido, the Sheriff’s Department reported.

“We don’t know why it crashed,” Deputy James Payton said of the 11:10 a.m. accident, adding, “We don’t know where it was headed to. We don’t know how many people actually were on board.”

Dave Youkel, an area resident, told television reporters that it “looked like (the pilot) was trying to do acrobatics, or something, and then the plane went down.”

Sheriff’s deputies, California Highway Patrol officers and Deer Springs firefighters searched the hilly terrain near the crash site, east of Interstate 15 near the Deer Springs Road off-ramp, Deputy Lorraine Truitt said.

Wreckage was scattered over a large area, Truitt added.

It was not known whether the two bodies were male or female, Payton said.