3 dead in small plane crash in Monterey, California — in same area where John Denver went down

Three people died after a small plane crashed off the Monterey County coast in California late Saturday, officials said.

The US Coast Guard led the multi-agency rescue effort into Sunday, which included a USCG helicopter, three Cal Fire rescue boats and members of the Pacific Grove Police Department, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and Monterey Fire Department.

All three aboard the plane were later confirmed dead.

The plane, identified by FAA records as a twin-engine Beechcraft built in 1974, took off from San Carlos Airport near Redwood City at 10:11 p.m. Saturday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and was last seen on radar at 10:37 p.m., according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

It had last completed the 23-minute jaunt from Monterey to San Carlos July 18.

The doomed flight crashed near Point Pinos Lighthouse in Pacific Grove, not far from where folk singer-songwriter and aviation enthusiast John Denver fatally crashed his homebuilt Rutan Long-EZ plane in October, 1997.