By Kim Palmer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Four Ohio college students were killed late Monday in a fiery plane crash near a Cleveland-area airport, investigators and college officials said on Tuesday.

The 1999 Cessna went down on Monday about 10 p.m. local time (2300 ET Tuesday) near a runway at Cuyahoga County Airport, about 16 miles (25 kilometers) from downtown Cleveland, according to Case Western Reserve University officials and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The victims, all students at Case Western in Cleveland, were on a sightseeing flight and attempting to return to the airport when the accident occurred, according to National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson.

The victims were identified as second-year students William Michael Felten, 20, of Saginaw, Michigan, who was flying the plane, and Lucas Marcelli, 20, of Massillon, Ohio; and first-year students John Hill, 18, of St. Simons, Georgia, and Abraham Pishevar, 18, of Rockville, Maryland.

Marcelli, Pishevar and Hill were members of the university's varsity wrestling team, the school said in a statement.

Officials are investigating the details of the crash and NTSB investigators are on the scene, Knudson said. A report is expected within 10 business days.

Counseling and student affairs staff are working closely with the undergraduates’ roommates and friend to provide support and guidance, according to the university.

(Reporting by Kim Palmer in Cleveland and Victoria Cavaliere; Writing and additional reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Bill Trott)