VERNON, B.C. — Moments after taking off into the bright, sunny skies of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, a small twin engine plane clipped two trees and slammed into a sports field, killing the two people onboard Saturday, say witnesses to the tragedy.

“I heard this explosion, looked over to see this aircraft burst into flames,” said Gord Molendyk, a spokesman for the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP, who was in the area at the time

“There was fire, along the ground, right up to the aircraft.”

Molendyk was supposed to be attending a wedding nearby early Saturday afternoon when he saw the aftermath of the accident.

He said the plane took off from the airport, hit the tops of two trees that were no more than eight metres high and flew over the edge of the field, before slamming into the ground and bursting into flames.

Molendyk said nobody on the ground was hurt.

Police and the Coroners Service of British Columbia are investigating the crash and the Transportation Safety Board has been contacted.