CLAYTON — A single-engine plane crashed into McCall’s Barbeque and Seafood in Clayton on Friday morning, leaving one person dead.

According to Johnston County Public Information Officer Pat LaCarter, emergency personnel arrived on the scene at 10:30 a.m. after receiving the first call at 10:10 a.m. He said the cause of the crash was still unknown Friday afternoon.

LaCarter said there were about 12 employees inside the restaurant when the plane crashed, but since the restaurant had not yet opened, no customers were present.

Roger Brown, kitchen manager, was on the side of the restaurant near the crash while he was preparing catering trays.

“We were all working and we heard this big boom and everyone started to scatter,” he said.

Brown said he and other managers tried to get everyone gathered together to evacuate.

Santana Santos, another kitchen manager, said after everyone went outside and saw the front of the building, they realized what had happened.

“After we got everyone outside, we went to the front and saw the wings,” he said. “That’s when we found out it was a plane.”

According to Santos, none of the employees were hurt and everyone had been accounted for.

“It’s something you imagine would never happen at a place like this,” he said.

Although LaCarter said he did not have much information on the plane or its passengers, he was aware of one injury where the person was transported to Johnston Memorial Hospital.

Worth Westbrook, one of the restaurant’s owners, said he arrived on scene at 11 a.m.

Westbrook said the front part of the restaurant was completely damaged and smoke was coming out from the restaurant’s rear.

Donna Whitman, community coordinator for the Johnston County Red Cross, said she and other Red Cross workers arrived on the scene around 11 a.m.

“We started out doing rehab for the fire departments that were here,” he said.

Whitman said they also provided the emergency personnel with lunch but did not have to do any medical work.

LaCarter said he assumed the death was that of the pilot, but pointed out that this had not been confirmed. The body had to remain inside the building until Saturday, when the National Transportation Safety Board determined the building safe enough for recovery workers to enter.

According to LaCarter, it seemed as if the plane was attempting to land when it crashed and it left “a good bit of structural damage, which is why the body has not been extradited yet.”

The NTSB said the plane was coming from a count airport in South Carolina and it departed at 9:11 a.m. Records from the accident site are currently under investigation.

LaCarter said the plane had not been in contact with the Johnston County Airport before it crashed.