HAMMOND - The wreckage of an airplane that crashed at the Hammond Northshore Regional Airport is being removed.

John Brannen, a senior National Transportation Safety Board investigator, says crews were removing the wreckage Friday.

The twin-engine Cessna 421 crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday. Two people aboard the plane were killed. Their names have not been released.

Brannen says witnesses saw the right engine of the airplane lose power before the plane crashed into the ground at a "near vertical" angle after reaching an altitude of about 150 feet. 

Brannen says a large fire erupted after the crash. He says NTSB is looking into the pilot's background and the plane's maintenance records. He says those records were inside the plane and badly burned.

The airport is open while crews clear up the wreckage.