AKIPRESS.COM - All five people aboard a small plane that crashed near an airport north of Denver have died, a spokesman for the National Transportation Board said, the AP reports.

The Piper PA-46 airplane crashed near the Erie Municipal Airport about 11:50 a.m., NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said Sunday afternoon. Shortly after the crash, three people were declared dead at the scene and two were taken to hospitals.

Erie Police Cmdr. Lee Mathis said the six-passenger plane crashed a few hundred yards northwest of the runway, but he did not know if it was landing or taking off.