Alaska ? A small plane believed to have four people on board crashed Monday near the picturesque downtown of Sitka, destroying an unoccupied house, authorities said.

Police said the likelihood of survivors was slim, but no one on the ground was reported injured.

The owner of the home, Tess Heyburn, followed others running toward the crash. She had been in a restaurant when the plane went down. “At first there wasn’t much smoke. Then it erupted into smoke and flames,” she said. “I think the plane just sailed through the house.”

There were no reports of injuries on the ground, fire officials said.

Jim La Belle, the National Transportation Safety Board’s regional director for Alaska, said reports identified the plane as a Piper Meridian turboprop.