Hole found in engine of small plane that crashed into Massachusetts house, killing 3 aboard

A federal investigator says there was internal damage to the engine of a small plane that crashed into a Massachusetts home and burned, killing three people aboard.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Doug Brazy said Wednesday investigators found a hole in the engine's crankcase but don't know the cause. Brazy says the engine will be examined at its manufacturer's lab.

The pilot told air traffic controllers his engine was failing just before the crash in a Plainville neighborhood Sunday evening.

Authorities have tentatively identified those killed as Knoxville, Tennessee, doctor Joseph Richard Kalister, wife Betty Kalister and teenage daughter Nicole Kalister. The daughter had been scheduled to attend a new-student orientation at Northeastern University in Boston this week.

The four people who lived in the house escaped.