Small plane crashes in eastern Oregon, kills 2 people

File photo of historic Baker City. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

NAMPA, Idaho -- Authorities say a fatal plane crash in eastern Oregon killed two people including a retired Idaho doctor.

The Baker County Sheriff's Office says 77-year-old William J. Watts and 70-year-old Mihoko Matsuda Nelsen were identified as the two passengers killed when a small passenger airplane nosedived into a hay field in Baker City on Saturday.

Dr. Charles Davis with the Saint Alphonsus Medical Group told the Idaho Press in an emailed statement that Nelsen was a neurologist with the group who practiced in Saint Al's facilities in Nampa and Fruitland before retiring about a year ago.

Authorities say Watts was piloting the plane that left from Caldwell.

The cause of the crash is being investigated.

--The Associated Press

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