LAS VEGAS (BNO NEWS) — A small plane crashed in a Las Vegas neighborhood on early Monday morning, officials said, killing one of the four people on board.

Glenn Gardner, a spokesman for the Clark County Department of Aviation, said the small Piper PA-32R aircraft carrying one pilot and three passengers went down in the Henderson suburb of Las Vegas at around 8.15 a.m. local time. He said the plane departed Henderson Executive Airport at around 7.30 a.m. local time, about 45 minutes before the accident happened.

After the aircraft took off it was unable to gain altitude, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman Ian Gregor. “The pilot tried to return to Henderson but crashed on a street in a residential neighborhood about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) northwest of the airport at 8.15 a.m.,” he said.

Stacey Welling, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Fire Department who was at the scene of the accident, said the first call came in at around 8.15 a.m. local time of smoke in the neighborhood. When crews arrived on the scene, they found an aircraft with four people inside.

The pilot and his three passengers were transported to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. “One of those four has since passed away,” Welling added. The other three remain in a critically condition and have sustained serious burn injuries.

Welling said the plane struck a light pole, a tree and a wall on its way down, but miraculously avoided a collision with any homes. “The pilot did a nice job of maneuvering the aircraft,” she said.

Neighbors and police officers who arrived on the scene before the Clark County Fire Department used hoses and fire extinguishers to put out the fire, which may have attributed to the survivability of the accident.

The FAA will investigate the cause of the accident.