Multiple people have died in a plane crash near the Utah desert tourist community of Moab

MOAB, Utah (AP) — Multiple people died in a plane crash outside the eastern Utah tourist town of Moab, authorities said Monday.

The plane crashed Sunday evening shortly after taking off from Canyonlands Airfield about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Moab, according to a Grand County Sheriff’s Department statement posted on Facebook.

The sheriff’s office said all four people on board the plane were killed, but the Federal Aviation Administration reports that three people died and one person had serious injuries.

According to an FAA report on recent crashes, the single-engine Piper plane has the same tail number as a plane registered to North Dakota state Senator Doug Larsen of Mandan. The addresses on the plane registration and the address of the senator match. It was not immediately known if Larsen was on board.

The crash was being investigated, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, the social media website formerly called Twitter.

A phone message left with sheriff’s officials seeking additional information wasn’t immediately returned Monday.

Moab is a tourism-centered community of about 5,300 people near Arches and Canyonlands national parks.