By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Fla., July 10 (Reuters) - A small plane attempting an emergency landing crashed into two houses in Sanford, Florida, on Tuesday, killing at least five people and causing an intense fire, investigators said. The twin-engine Cessna 310 was registered to a corporation linked to NASCAR racing, officials said. One of those killed was the husband of NASCAR official Lesa France Kennedy, according to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. The plane took off from Daytona International Airport enroute to Lakeland but minutes later reported smoke in the cockpit, investigators said. "We have confirmed five victims," a fire investigator said. Three of the dead, two children and an adult, were in the houses when the plane hit. A 10-year-old boy who was in one of the homes was critically injured with third-degree burns over 80-90 percent of his body, according to fire investigator Matt Minnetta. Minnetta, who helped load the 10-year-old into an ambulance, called him "a tough kid." "He was not talking. He was severely burned," Minnetta said. "All the real talking he did was just a thumbs up." Fire investigators said they could not immediately confirm the names of the dead. The pilot attempted an emergency landing in a field, but crashed into the two houses. Investigators said debris was scattered as far as seven houses away from the crash site. Officials said the plane was registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau Inc., a Daytona Beach-based company affiliated with NASCAR, and was being flown by a man with a female passenger, both of whom died in the crash. The Sentinel identified one of the victims as Dr. Bruce Kennedy, a plastic surgeon and the husband of France Kennedy, the president of International Speedway Corp. <ISCA.O>, which owns and manages racetracks and promotes NASCAR events.
