Transcript for Deadly Mid-Air Crash When Fighter Jet Smashes Into Plane

Authorities say a fighter jet smashing into a small plane, pieces of the jet and the plane raining down on a neighborhood, a piece of one of the engines right there. Eye witnesses describing a ball of fire in the sky. It happened ten miles outside Charleston and at this hour the ntsb, the air force both investigating, drivers in the water. The fighter pilot ejecting safely but late today we learned the passengers in the small plane did not survive. Steve osunsami is on the scene tonight. We need to get an ambulance back here. Reporter: Tonight, in the near 100-degree heat. Also, divers needed at this time. Reporter: First responders are searching backyards, woods, and a river for what's left of the two aircraft that somehow crashed above neighborhoods in South Carolina. The debris field miles wide, littered with tires and engine parts. We're getting reports of two planes down at this time, small plane versus a military-style jet, small plane in the water at this time. Reporter: Beverly Brunswick said she was working outside. We were sitting there and we heard this boom coming from this side. Reporter: Authorities say the first call for help came at 11:03. The two planes were an f-16 traveling from Shaw airforce base northwest of Charleston. And a Cessna c-150 that authorities tell usa often used as a popular training plane for pilots. The military says the pilot of their aircraft ejected safely, but state officials say that two people flying the Cessna was killed. The information that we have now, they are local. Reporter: Experts say the Cessna should have shown up on the fighter-jet's radar, and that air traffic controllers should have warned the Cessna about the f-16. Witnesses tell police the Cessna was flying and pulled up suddenly when the f-16 tore right through it, crashing fife miles away. They're both at very low altitude, very high rates of closure, and sometimes they don't see each other. Reporter: Tonight divers are searching the river on the other side of this rice field. Despite the falling debris, no one was injured on the ground. Steve osunsami, thank you.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.