WEST COLUMBIA, South Carolina -- A witness to the plane crash that killed four and injured former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and celebrity disc jockey DJ AM says he came upon the two survivors as they stripped off their burning clothes.

Officials walk away on Saturday Sept. 20, 2008. from the scene of a Learjet crash that killed four people in West Columbia, S.C. Hours after performing, former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and celebrity DJ AM were critically injured in a fiery Learjet crash that killed four people, authorities said Saturday. [Agencies]

William Owens said he was driving near Columbia Metropolitan Airport late Friday night when a fireball shot across the road in front of him.

Hours after performing for thousands of South Carolina college students, Travis Barker and DJ AM were critically injured in a fiery Learjet crash.

The wreckage of a Learjet that was carrying former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, Adam Goldstein, also known as DJ AM, and four others rests on an embankment along Highway 302, along the outskirts of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008, in Columbia, S.C. Barker and Goldstein were critically injured; two other passengers and two crew members were killed.[Agencies]

Officials said the plane carrying six people was departing shortly before midnight Friday when air traffic controllers reporting seeing sparks. The plane hurtled off the end of a runway and crashed through antennas and a fence. It came to rest a quarter-mile (400 meters) away on an embankment across a five-lane highway and was engulfed in flames, said Debbie Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Barker and DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, were in critical but stable condition at a burn center in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Beth Frits said. Augusta is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Columbia.

Two other passengers, Chris Baker, 29, and Charles Still, 25,  died, as did pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, and co-pilot James Bland, 52, according to the county coroner. Baker was an assistant to Barker and Still was a security guard for the musician.

The plane was headed for Van Nuys, California. It is owned by Global Exec Aviation, a California-based charter company, and was certified to operate last year, Hersman said. The company expressed its condolences in a statement and said it was working with investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

At the crash site Saturday, the air was still heavy with the odor of jet fuel. A trail of black soot led off a runway. The nose of the aircraft was gone and the roof was missing from two-thirds of the charred plane.

Hersman said officials recovered the cockpit voice recorder Saturday but had yet to analyze it or determine whether the recording was in good condition. She said the weather was clear when the plane took off, but said no factors had been ruled out.

"We're working as fast as we can to document all the evidence," Hersman said. "We have not yet found anything but we are looking at everything."