MARIETTA, Ohio — A preliminary report on the Oct. 18 plane crash that killed two men as they approached the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport indicates icing may have been a contributing factor but does not state a cause.

The National Transportation Safety Review Board report, provided Thursday by a spokesman for the agency, elaborates on statements made by an investigator the day after the crash in a press conference near the Pioneer Buick GMC lot on Ohio 7 in Reno.

Parkersburg resident Eric S. Seevers, 45, and Timothy F. Gifford, 49, of Orient, Ohio, were killed in the crash. The 1974 Beechcraft King Air E90 took off around 6:40 a.m. from the John Glenn Columbus International Airport and was coming to pick up two Parkersburg residents for a trip to Florida.

Communications with air traffic controllers from the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center were normal, with no indications of any irregularities, the report said. So were the exchanges with the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport control tower.

The flight crew acknowledged their clearance to land around 7:09 a.m., as they were on a 3-mile final approach, the report said.

That was the last communication received from the plane.

“Multiple eyewitnesses located on the airport and area surrounding the accident site reported that the airplane, while flying straight and level, suddenly began a steep descent and spun near vertically to the ground,” the report said, adding that security camera footage from multiple sources was generally consistent with those accounts.

Pilots in the area reported “trace to moderate icing conditions” at the time of the accident, the report said.

“Weather satellite data showed supercooled liquid water clouds from 1,300 ft agl (feet above ground level) to about 8,000 ft agl,” it said.

The report notes the plane’s pneumatic anti-icing system was consumed by the fire that started after the plane struck the ground, so “a reliable determination of their post-impact positions could not be made.”

Other components also sustained significant impact and thermal damage, but there were no indications of mechanical anomalies to any engine components that would have precluded normal operation, the report said.

NTSB investigator Aaron McCarter mentioned the normal communications and possibility of icing when he spoke to members of the media the day after the crash. He said a final report, to be reviewed by the NTSB board, was expected in nine to 12 months.