( CNN ) -- Children were among the victims of a plane crash that killed as many as 17 people Sunday in Butte , Montana , according to authorities in Oroville , California , where the aircraft stopped for fuel . Martha Guidoni said this photo was taken after she and her husband saw the plane `` nosedive '' in Butte , Montana . The single-engine plane stopped at the Oroville airport at about 11 a.m. PT , refueled and departed about half an hour later , Police Chief Kirk Trostle said . `` There were some adults and children on board , '' he told reporters Sunday evening , adding the passengers got out briefly to stretch while the pilot refueled the plane . Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said based on preliminary reports , 17 people died in the crash . The Pilatus PC-12 was headed to Bozeman , Montana , but rerouted to Butte instead and crashed 500 feet short of the runway at Butte 's Bert Mooney Airport , Fergus said . The flight plan originated in Redlands , California , according to flight-tracking site FBOweb.com . Stops were made in Vacaville , California , then Oroville , before the plane headed for Montana . Preliminary information indicates the pilot did not declare an emergency aboard the plane before the crash , Fergus said . The National Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigation team to the scene , Kristi Dunks , an aerosafety investigator with the agency , told reporters in Butte on Sunday evening . Dunks said the plane crashed at the Holy Cross Cemetery , located just south of the airport 's Runway 3 . She said there were no survivors , though she would n't confirm the number of people on board the plane . No one on the ground was injured , Sheriff John Walsh said . Eric Teitelman , Oroville 's director of community development and public works , said the small airport has no control tower but because it has a `` wide-open runway '' and a self-service fuel system , it is a frequent stop for private aircraft . Teitelman said at least one person -- an aircraft owner doing servicing work -- was at the airport Sunday when the Pilatus stopped for refueling . The aircraft owner `` met the pilot , saw the children running around , '' Teitelman said . The plane , manufactured in 2001 , was registered to Eagle Cap Leasing in Enterprise , Oregon , according to the FAA . Martha Guidoni told CNN she and her husband witnessed the plane crash . She photographed one of the first images of the scene , which showed the cemetery in the foreground of a huge blaze . See a map of Butte , Montana » . `` We were just taking a ride , and all of a sudden , we watched this plane just take a nosedive , '' she told CNN . `` We drove into the cemetery to see if there was any way my husband could help someone , and we were too late . There was nothing to help . '' Her husband , Steve Guidoni , who went to the scene of the crash , said the plane `` went into the ground '' and caught a tree on fire . Watch footage from scene and hear witness recount what he saw » . `` I looked ... to see if I could see anybody I could pull out or anything , but there was n't anything there , I could n't see anything , '' he told CNN . `` Some luggage [ was ] strewn around . ... [ There were ] some plane parts . ''
Children among those killed in crash in Butte , Montana , authorities say . Witness says she watched plane `` just take a nosedive '' Single-engine aircraft crashed about 500 feet short of runway , FAA says . FAA : Plane left California ; originally supposed to land in Bozeman , Montana .