Pilot Dies in Air Tanker Crash While Fighting Yosemite Park Wildfire

The pilot of an air tanker was killed Tuesday afternoon when his plane crashed into a canyon wall while battling a wildfire at the Yosemite National Park in California.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Chris Michael , who saw the crash , said that the pilot was spraying fire retardant to stop the fire from progressing up the canyon wall.

"It appeared from the direction he was going, he was trying to make a drop down the side of the canyon when he hit the canyon wall," he said, reports the Associated Press.

Another eyewitness, Don Talend of West Dundee, holidaying in the park with his friends stopped to take some pictures of the fire many miles away. Talend said that the plane disappeared into the smoke and he heard a boom.

"I couldn't believe what I saw," Talend said. "There was actually a ranger there behind us. ... He had a look of disbelief on his face," he said, reports AP.

The death of the pilot was confirmed by a rescue team, who had to hike though extremely rough terrain to get to the wreckage of the plane, said Alyssa Smith, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Officials said that there were no clues regarding the cause of the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board would investigate the crash.

The fire started near Route 140, which goes to the center of the park. It peeked by Tuesday evening and several homes were evacuated in the nearby community of Foresta.

About two year ago an air tanker crashed on a mountain side in southwestern Utah while on an assignment to drop fire retardant on an huge blaze near the Nevada border, reports Reuters.