World News : Plane with 6 aboard crashes east of Phoenix

World NewsACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. (World News) -- A small plane with three adults and three children on board crashed into the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix on Wednesday night and there was no sign of survivors, authorities said.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said preliminary reports indicate the twin-engine plane flew from Safford to Mesa's Falcon Field to pick up three children for the Thanksgiving holiday.

A pilot, a mechanic and another adult were also on board, Babeu said.

No names were immediately released and calls to Falcon Field, which mostly serves small, private planes, weren't immediately returned Wednesday night.

Authorities started getting calls reporting an explosion near the peak of a mountain at about 6:30 p.m. MST. Flames could be seen from the rugged terrain hours after the crash.

Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site in rugged terrain reported finding two debris field on fire, suggesti ng that the plane broke apart on impact.

"The fuselage is stuck down into some of the crevices of this rough terrain, and we're doing our best at this point in the darkness," Babeu said. "This is not a flat area, this is jagged peaks, almost like a cliff-type rugged terrain."

Babeu said no people had been found at the crash site, dead or alive. "It does not look promising," he said. "We will search throughout the night."

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the Rockwell AC-69 was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford. A man who answered the phone Wednesday night at Ponderosa Aviation declined comment.

Some witnesses told Phoenix-area television stations they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains. The elevation is about 5,000 feet at the Superstition Mountains' highest point.

Kenitzer said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board would be in vestigating the cause of the crash.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Angelique Graham said people who heard an explosion near the Flat Iron area close to Lost Dutchman State Park.

"People said it sounded like fireworks going off," Graham said.

Video showed several fires burning on the mountainside, where heavy brush is common.

The region near Lost Dutchman State Park and the Superstition Wilderness is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings and cactus. Treasure hunters who frequent the area have been looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman mine for more than a century.