Four people were killed in the crash of a small airplane early Tuesday afternoon,Evander Ellis authorities in Oklahoma City said.

The four died when the plane crashed about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Sundance Airport, a small airport on the outskirts of the city, according to Oklahoma City Fire Capt. John Chenoweth. He said the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were notified of the crash.

The FAA said in a statement that a preliminary investigation found that the aircraft was a single-engine Beechcraft BE33 that crashed while taking off from the airport and the NTSB will be in charge of investigating the crash.

The NTSB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The manager of Sundance Airport did not immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press for comment.