Aaliyah Crash Under Investigation

Bahamian authorities continue to probe what caused the small Cessna plane to plunge to the ground shortly after takeoff, killing all nine people aboard. At the request of Bahamian aviation officials, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board have sent an investigator to look into the tragedy. However, officials will have their work cut out for them since the Cessna was not equipped with a black box flight recorder.

According to police, the twin-engined propeller plane apparently suffered engine failure and went down roughly 200 feet from the end of the runway at Marsh Harbour airport on Abaco Island, just 100 miles north of Nassau. The plane, which was heading to the Miami suburb of Opa-locka, Florida, burst into flames immediately upon impact.

An eyewitness told authorities he saw the Cessna, which lifted off in clear blue skies, veer sharply to the left before suddenly losing control and plummeting to the ground.

CNN and two Bahamian newspapers, the Tribune and the Freeport Press, reported the pilot and ground crew believed the plane to be dangerously overloaded and requested the passengers to leave behind some of their luggage but the passengers refused.

Meanwhile, the Miami Herald reported Aaliyah and her companions were supposed to go out on a later flight on a much larger aircraft but opted instead to try and fly out on another company's charter on Saturday.

Within minutes of the crash, volunteer firefighters were on scene and found several badly burned bodies. Of the nine aboard, six people were killed instantly in the crash, including Aaliyah. Three more survived but were in critical condition and died within hours of their injuries.

In addition to the 22-year-old singer, the victims were: Douglas Kratz, 28, director of video production for Aaliyah's record company, Virgin; Eric Foreman, 29, and Anthony Dodd, 34, hairstylists to the R&B star; Keith Wallace, 49, a manager at the Virgin-distributed Blackground Entertainment; Gina Smith, 29, Aaliyah's product manager for Blackground; Scott Gallin, 41, the singer's bodyguard; Christopher Maldonado, 32; and the pilot, Luis Antonio Morales Blanes, 30. The bodies will be flown back to the States this week. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The crew had just completed shooting a music video for her new single, "Rock the Boat." There is no word yet on when or if the video will be released.

Aaliyah's death also brings into question the fate of several of her big-screen projects. She had recently wrapped a starring role in Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned for Warner Bros. (which pushed back the release of her self-titled third album to July).

She had also reportedly done some preproduction work on Warners Matrix sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. But that project wasn't due to begin principal photography in Australia until the fall. She was supposed to costar opposite Keanu Reeves in both the second and third installments of the sci-fi franchise.

Warners Bros., which released her first film, Romeo Must Die in which she played Jet Li's love interest, refused to comment on the status of any of her pending film projects.

Instead, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Warner's president of worldwide production released a statement saying, "Aaliyah was one of the finest young women I have ever worked with. She was a consummate professional, an amazing talent with limitless potential and, most importantly, an exceptional person.

"Her passing is a huge loss to her many friends here at Warner Bros. and we extend our heartfelt sympathy to her family and to those who loved her as we did."

Earlier, Virgin and Blackground expressed similar sentiments. And Aaliyah's survivors--her mother, father and brother--issued a statement simply saying they were "devastated."