Inquiry after U.S. firm's second 747 cargo plane crashes in less than two months

None of the plane's eight U.S. crew members were reported dead, although a hospital director said one was in serious condition.

It was the second time in six weeks that a 747 flown by Ypsilanti, Michigan-based Kalitta Air has crashed.

U.S. investigators are en route to Colombia to assist in a government inquiry into the cause of the crash.

Smashed: Rescue workers inspect the wreckage of a Boeing 747 that crashed in Madrid, near Bogota, Colombia

Downed: Soldiers walk past the wreckage of a 747-200 cargo plane. Three Colombians were killed early on Monday when a 747-200 cargo plane crashed into their house

The plane's crew told air traffic controllers early today that one of its engines had caught fire and radio contact was lost seconds later, said Donald Tascon, deputy director of Colombia's civil aviation agency.

At 3:50am, the jet attempted an emergency landing and crashed onto a ranch about 15 miles north-west of Bogota, said aviation officials and Diego Humberto Sicard, mayor of Madrid, the small village hit.

The plane split apart and its tail smashed into a ranch home, killing Pedro Suarez, 50, and his 13-year-old son Edwin, according to the mayor and aviation official Tascon.

The plane had stopped in Bogota to pick up flowers - one of Colombia's biggest exports - and was scheduled to land in Miami, Kalitta Air Vice President Pete Sanderlin said.

Air scare: A Colombian policeman stands guard near the remains of a 747-200 cargo plane, which was carrying a consignment of roses to Miami

'All of the crew on board had various injuries, from slight to more serious,' he added.

Two crew members were treated at a Madrid hospital, while six others were sent to the Central Police Hospital in Bogota.

One, identified as Joseph Kendall, had his spleen removed and was recuperating, hospital director Col. Nader Lujan told reporters.

Kalitta had been operating the plane for another airline, Centurion Air Cargo, Sanderlin said.

Five investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, will join other Americans from the Federal Aviation Administration, aircraft-maker Boeing Co. and engine-maker Pratt & Whitney in assisting the Colombian probe.

Rescue operation: Police officers carry a wounded crew member of a crashed Boeing 747 toward the police hospital in Bogota

Emergency evacuation: Colombian Air Force personnel and rescuers carry on a stretcher one of the eight crew members injured

Another Kalitta-operated Boeing 747 crashed and broke apart in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25 as pilots tried to abort a takeoff, U.S. and Belgian authorities have said.

All five crew members survived that incident, too, although four were slightly injured.

The crash also marked the second time two days that a cargo line based at Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti has crashed in Latin America.

A DC-9-15 freighter operated by USA Jet Airlines crashed early Sunday while nearing the airport in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

The pilot of the plane, 46-year-old Lon McIntosh of Middletown, Ohio, died, according to his family and Mexican officials.