NEW YORK (AP) – Four people were killed Saturday afternoon when a single-engine plane on a sightseeing tour crashed on the beach in Coney Island, plunging into the sand as stunned sunbathers looked on, officials said.

The pilot and three passengers aboard the Cessna 172S were dead at the scene following the 1:30 p.m. crash on a sunny spring day at the popular Brooklyn beach, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker.

Hours after the crash, the shattered white aircraft remained on the sand about halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and the boardwalk. No one on the sparsely populated beach was injured.

Eyewitnesses said the plane was circling above Coney Island when its engine suddenly stalled, sending the aircraft directly into the beach. The pilot tried desperately to right the four-year-old plane after it went into a tailspin, said Herbert Lecler, 51, who was fishing on the beach.

“He couldn’t, and he bounced on that beach,” said Lecler.

Joshua McCabe, a registered nurse visiting from San Diego, was eating inside Nathan’s Famous hot dog restaurant when he heard the crash. McCabe and another witness rushed to the scene, where they found the pilot already dead and a female passenger barely alive.

Within seconds, he said, “she wasn’t breathing and then she lost her pulse.” She was one of two women killed in the crash, along with the pilot and a second man.

The crash occurred on a bright afternoon at the world-renowned beach, home to the Cyclone rollercoaster and the Astroland amusement park. The plane hit the beach close to KeySpan Park, a minor league baseball stadium, and was in sight of the famous Wonder Wheel.

The pilot was a New York City resident, while the other three victims were visiting from the south, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a Coney Island news conference. None of the victims were identified pending notification of their families, the mayor said.

The specific cause of the crash was unknown, and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the tragedy. According to Bloomberg, the victims were on a sightseeing tour for aspiring pilots.

“Obviously something went tragically wrong, and four people are dead,” Bloomberg said. “We should be glad there are not more.”

Dick Zigun, a longtime Coney Island resident who was at the crash site, said it looked like the plane had come down nose-first.

“The wings are broken off, and the cockpit glass was smashed up,” he said. “It didn’t look like anyone could survive that.”

Zigun, who has lived in Coney Island for 25 years, said it was the first plane crash on the beach that he could recall. Several sunbathers were on the beach when the plane came down, although the Coney Island crowd was generally sparse, he said.

Police and fire officials moved quickly to close off the beach after the crash. Dozens of people gathered along the boardwalk staring out at the wreckage.

The plane was registered to RJ Ventures LLC of Paramus, N.J., and it took off earlier Saturday from the Linden Airport in New Jersey.

The famous beach and boardwalk in Brooklyn hosts tens of thousands of New Yorkers daily during the summer months, and its more famous visitors in the past included Charles Lindbergh and Sigmund Freud.