In brief: Teens die during scuba excursion

MONTEREY, Calif. – Two 17-year-old high school students from Carson City, Nev., died Saturday while scuba diving in Monterey Bay, authorities said.

The boys from a group of 19 people on a diving excursion failed to resurface, and boats from the Monterey Fire Department and U.S. Coast Guard took to the water to look for them, fire Division Chief Felix Colello said.

After a 45-minute search, employees of the Reno-based diving company that led the trip found the boys at the bottom, 40 to 50 feet from the surface, Colello said.

Both were in cardiac arrest when they were pulled aboard a fire department boat, Colello said. They were later declared dead at Community Hospital. The cause of death was not immediately clear, and the coroner’s office was investigating, he said.

Plane crashes into house, killing one

BIDDEFORD, Maine – A small plane crashed into a house in Maine and burst into flames Sunday evening, killing one person on the plane, authorities said. No one was home at the time of the crash.

The victim was believed to be the pilot of the twin-engine Cessna, which was headed to Biddeford Municipal Airport when it clipped some trees and crashed through the roof of the house nearby after 6 p.m., said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

There was no immediate word on what caused the crash or who the pilot was.

Fireworks blast investigated

WAIPAHU, Hawaii – Investigators plan to question officials at an ordnance disposal company today to try to determine the age and type of fireworks inside a storage bunker that exploded Friday, killing five workers and injuring another, a fire official said Sunday.

Authorities probing the cause of the explosion also want to know what the six employees of Donaldson Enterprises Inc. were doing when the blast occurred and what their training was, Honolulu fire Capt. Gary Lum said Sunday.