One person has been confirmed dead and two are still missing after a plane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island, New York, around 11 a.m on Oct. 13, officials said.
The small private plane was carrying three people when it crashed a mile away from the Village of Quogue in the Hamptons.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane was headed for Charleston Executive Airport in South Carolina after having taken off at Danbury Municipal airport. It fell three miles southeast of the Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach.
“It’s still a search and recovery at this point,” Quogue Village Police Chief Christopher Isola said at a news conference late afternoon on Oct. 13, according to Newsday. “The Coast Guard along with other marine assets will continue in that effort.”
The cause of the crash is not yet known, Isola said. It is also not yet clear whether the rainy conditions contributed to the crash.
“The FAA will investigate and the National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause for the accident,” the FAA said.
People witnessed the plane sputtering before the crash.
“And then the engine went up even to a higher, screaming and screaming, and then all of a sudden quiet. It happened instantly. I saw three pieces of plane, separate trajectories heading towards the ocean, and they were just kind of going down like a leaf, you know?” Quogue resident Tim Carbone told WABC.
