DENVER -- Three men died Monday when a small plane crashed in a wooded area of North Augusta, S.C. The plane is registered to a Colorado man, but identities of the dead were not immediately released.

Some employees of a nearby nursing home were unable to get the doors of the Cessna 182 open to help the occupants after the the plane went down around 10:15 a.m., officials said.

The crash site is a mile or two east of the Savannah River, Aiken County Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank said. That's just across the border from Augusta, Ga., home of the Masters Golf Tournament.

The plane took off from the nearby Aiken Municipal Airport and was heading to Greenville, Miss., Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Christopher White said.

The county coroner said the victims were three, middle-aged men.

The plane is registered to William C. Cuntz of Golden, Colo., according to FAA records. A friend of the Cuntz family told 7NEWS that Cuntz had flown to the Masters Golf tournament with his two adult sons. There was no official confirmation that they were on board the plane when it went down.

A spokesman for the North Augusta Department of Public Safety told the Augusta Chronicle that the crash site is in a wooded area, about 100 yards from a nursing home. He said the plane's tail was sheared off and that the right wing was damaged.

Some residents of the nursing home said the plane sounded like it was in trouble as it passed over, said Kevin Ginn, chief operating officer for the Anne Maria Rehab and Nursing Center.

"I have staff out there with them and they saw the plane go over. The engine was sputtering," Ginn said.

A spokeswoman for Aiken Municipal Airport said that three men arrived at the airport earlier this morning, checked the weather and then boarded the plane and took off.

An official with Augusta Regional Airport said an alert signal was received from the plane shortly after 10 a.m., meaning there could be a problem. The airport then lost contact with the plane.

The aircraft went down about a block from a local school.