Three Tesla employees have died in a plane crash in East Palo Alto, VentureBeat reports.

Previously, Jalopnik said it was three executives.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, former co-founder of Paypal, was not on the plane, according to the company.

In a statement he said, "Three Tesla employees were on board a plane that crashed in East Palo Alto early this morning. We are withholding their identities as we work with the relevant authorities to notify the families. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Tesla is a small, tightly-knit company, and this is a tragic day for us."

We've heard JB Straubel, Telsa's CTO, was not on the plane.

According to the SF Gate, the plane was owned by Doug Bourn, an electrical engineer for the electric car startup. It's unclear if he was flying the plane or on the plane at all.

Tesla makes the Roadster, an all-electric sports car, and recently filed for an IPO.

Update: VentureBeat says the employees that died were Doug Bourn, Andrew Ingram and senior manager Brian Finn.