NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Friday morning crash involving a REACH aircraft in Humboldt County claimed the lives of four people.

REACH Air Medical Services and Cal-Ore Life Flight confirmed that the accident involved a Piper Cheyenne aircraft associated with Cal-Ore’s base in Crescent City.

Three crew members and a patient were on board the plane, REACH reported.

“This is one of the saddest moments in our history,” the organization – which also serves Lake County – said in a Friday afternoon statement.

REACH said the plane departed at 12:29 a.m. Friday from Crescent City Airport, bound for Oakland International Airport

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported that at around 1 a.m. Friday the pilot of the twin-engine Piper PA31 declared an emergency due to smoke in the cockpit, and indicated he was going to return to Crescent City.

However, radar contact with the aircraft was lost about five miles northeast of Arcata Airport, and communication with the aircraft ceased at about 1:05 a.m., according to reports from the sheriff's office and REACH.

Authorities including the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, US Coast Guard, Cal Fire, Civil Air Patrol, California Highway Patrol Air Division and the Office of Emergency Services launched a search for the plane.

Sheriff's officials said search and rescue teams found a crash site with a quarter-mile-long debris field on private timber company in the Cranell area, located north of McKinleyville, at around 10 a.m.

At that point, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office confirmed two fatalities, secured the scene and notified the National Transportation Safety Board, which is set to arrive at the location at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Cal-Ore also notified the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to REACH's statement.

The sheriff's office reported that it was in communication with REACH Air Medical Services and confirmed that there were four people on the plane.

REACH said it had critical incident stress management teams in the area and were doing all it could to help those involved.

Late Friday night, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported that its coroner’s division completed recovery of the victims from the crash at 8:30 p.m.

The agency confirmed four fatalities, and said the bodies of three females and one male were recovered from inside the wreckage of the aircraft.

The ages and identities of the victims were being withheld at that time pending identification and notification of next of kin, the sheriff's office said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.