Santa Monica Airport jet crash: 4 people, 2 cats, 1 dog killed

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Santa Monica firefighters monitor the collapsed aircraft hangar where a private jet crashed and burned Sunday evening at Santa Monica Airport. Investigators will have to lift the hangar’s metal roof off the burned aircraft to determine how many bodies are inside. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Monica firefighters look through burned debris at the back side of an aircraft hangar where a private jet crashed and burned Sunday evening. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters battle a blaze at Santa Monica Airport that began when a small jet veered off the runway and crashed into a hangar. The fire spread to two other buildings. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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A firefighter works to extinguish a fire in a collapsed airplane hangar at Santa Monica Airport that began when a twin-engine Cessna Citation crashed into it after landing Sunday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the site of the plane crash at Santa Monica Airport. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

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Firefighters work to extinguish fire at the site of the plane crash at Santa Monica Airport on Sunday. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

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The wing of a plane is visible as firefighters investigate while continuing to extinguish a fire after a twin-engine Cessna Citation crashed into a hangar after landing at Santa Monica Airport. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

By Joseph Serna

Oct. 1, 2013 12:08 PM PT

L.A. County coroner’s officials say they will need to use dental records to confirm the identities of four people killed in Sunday’s jet crash at Santa Monica Airport.

The bodies of four people were pulled from a twin-engine Cessna Citation on Tuesday morning. The private jet touched down at Santa Monica Airport on Sunday evening, then steered hard right off the runway and smashed into an airport hangar before bursting into flames.

The crash collapsed the hangar and the fire spread to two neighboring buildings. No one on board survived.

The bodies were charred beyond recognition so the coroner’s office needs dental records to confirm the identities of the victims, Lt. Fred Corral said.

Two of the victims were unofficially identified Monday when Los Angeles-based construction company Morley Builders announced its chief executive, Mark Benjamin, 63, and his son, Luke, 28, were believed to have been on the plane.

The two other passengers were women, according to KABC-TV.

The coroner also recovered the remains of two cats and a dog on board, Corral said.

The airport has been shut down since the crash. But the transportation hub could be reopened to air traffic by Tuesday afternoon, acting airport manager Stelios Makrides told The Times.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board – the federal agency overseeing the crash investigation – were unavailable for comment Tuesday because of the government shutdown.

Agency officials told reporters Monday that it was too early to tell what caused the plane to veer hard-right off the runway after touching down.

The pilot had not communicated any problems during the flight, the NTSB said. Investigators hoped the plane’s voice recorder could shed light on what went wrong.

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