Police and fire officials gather last night at the scene of a plane crash near Newport State Airport in Middletown. An explosion was reported shortly after the plane went down.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

MIDDLETOWN –– Two people are dead and a third severely injured after a fiery plane crash last night at Newport State Airport.

As of 10:30 this morning, it was unclear whether the police will release the names of the two victims who died and the survivor, who was brought to Rhode Island Hospital with serious burns.

The New York State Police are assisting Rhode Island State Police with notifying next of kin.

Meanwhile, the Rhode Island State Police were still waiting for the arrival of Federal Aviation Administration investigators from Boston and officials from the National Transportation Safety Board from New Jersey. When both agencies arrive, they will take over the investigation of the deadly plane crash, said James Warcup, chief aeronautics inspector with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation.

Warcup said again there seemed to be loss of power during take-off, but said that officials will have to conduct an investigation in order to determine what caused the crash.

This morning, a burned and damaged wing and part of the nose of the single engine Piper PA-28 were all that were visible at the crash sight. The body of the plane appeared to be completely destroyed by the crash.

The single-engine Piper aircraft carrying three people went down at 7:30 p.m. about 700 feet from the small airport’s runway.

The plane, which was large enough to seat four, suffered a power failure immediately after takeoff, according to James Warcup, chief aeronautics inspector with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. Authorities believe it was “an instruction flight.”

Eyewitnesses reported watching the Piper flying abnormally low after lifting off from the runway when the wings started to tilt dangerously to one side.

“I’ve never seen a plane that low,” said Pauline Peter, who has lived in an East Main Road home next to the airport for the last 20 years. She watched the incident out her back window. “It went behind a tree, you heard a crash, then an explosion, and then thick black smoke,” she said.

Another eyewitness, Michael Alexander, was driving along the field immediately after the crash.

He saw two men, apparently not involved in the incident, pulling another man from the smoking wreckage.

Although he was badly burned, the injured man was conscious. He was yelling, “I’m OK. I’m OK. Get my wife out of there,” according to Alexander.

Just after the man was pulled to safety, Alexander watched the plane explode. “It was low and muffled,” he said, adding that there was a lot of fire.

State police Maj. Steven O’Donnell, standing a few hundred yards from the crash site last night, said that two victims were burned beyond recognition, while a third person had been airlifted to Rhode Island Hospital. He said information regarding their identities may be released today.

The medical examiner’s office was on the scene.

The survivor, whose gender O’Donnell would not detail, was listed in critical condition.

It was a clear but breezy evening at the small two-runway airport, which primarily handles non-commercial flights, according to Warcup. He said there was a minor crash in May, but he couldn’t immediately remember the last fatality at Newport State Airport, which is located in Middletown.

The Federal Aviation Administration lists the plane as being registered to Charles Hallal, of Westport, Mass. The 1977 Piper, model PA -28-161, is listed as a fixed wing, single-engine aircraft.

Warcup said the plane’s engine abruptly stopped after takeoff. The owner of the plane was not on board.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board plan to investigate the incident further today.

The plane crashed in a field adjacent to a residential area, but no one on the ground was injured and there was no damage to any homes.

Emergency personnel last night had put up police tape along neighbors’ back yards, which was about 100 yards from the charred remains of the plane. Investigators covered the scene and local authorities planned to guard the site throughout the night.

Peter, who lives adjacent to the airport, said she was finishing dinner with her fiancé at around 7:30 p.m. when she saw the plane disappear behind a tree.

She called 911 after hearing an explosion.

Just down the street, Alexander was headed out to get a prescription filled when he noticed smoke coming from the field adjacent to the airport.

“I saw smoke and I thought maybe the kids had set the field on fire for the Fourth of July,” he said.

But he quickly saw that the smoke was coming from the burning plane. The man who was pulled from the plane “was still conscious,” according to Alexander. “His clothes were burned off. He looked to me like he was seriously burned.”

Newport State Airport is one of six airports operated by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. The 221-acre site has two paved runways and is about two miles northeast of the central business district of the city of Newport on Aquidneck Island.

—With reports from staff writers Talia Buford and Gina Macris, and from projo.com

speoples@projo.com