Former Santa Monica mayor Rex Minter dies in small plane crash, authorities say

A former mayor of Santa Monica, California, died after a small plane crash-landed and flipped upside down on a beach in the coastal California community, authorities said.

Rex Minter was a passenger in the single-engine Cessna that took off from Santa Monica Airport about 3 p.m. Thursday en route to Malibu. The plane crashed after just nine minutes in the air, CBS Los Angeles reported. The pilot was taken to a hospital.

The City of Santa Monica and current Mayor Gleam Davis separately confirmed Minter's death.