SNOW HILL, N.C. (AP) -- Two people were killed when a private plane crashed in Greene County, N.C.

WITN-TV in Washington reported Thursday that Sheriff Lemmie Smith said the plane went down around 1:30 p.m. He said the plane crashed in a farm field several hundred feet from a residential area near Snow Hill. The town is about 20 miles southwest of Greenville.

Smith said the plane issued a distress call to the Federal Aviation Administration before it disappeared from the radar at about 1:15 p.m.

A firefighter told WITN that a witness said the plane clipped two trees before crashing.

The FAA said the crash involved an experimental aircraft. The agency described the aircraft as a Lancair model IV-P, built in 2003.

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Information from: WITN-TV, http://www.witntv.com/

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)