SOUTHOLD, N.Y. (AP) - A small plane crashed on New York’s Long Island on Saturday, killing the man and woman on board, authorities said.
The Federal Aviation Authority said in a statement that the single-engine Beechcraft A36 plane crashed in Southold at around 9:15 a.m.
Southold Chief of Police Martin Flately said in an email that the two people aboard the plane were killed. Their names were not immediately released. Flately said a dog that was in the plane survived.
The aircraft was flying from Long Island’s MacArthur Airport to New Bedford, Massachusetts, when it experienced “some type of mechanical failure” and crashed, Flately said.
Jamesport Fire Chief Mario Carrera told Newsday that the plane was “fully engulfed and burning” when firefighters arrived.
Kenneth Cooper told Newsday he was driving when he saw the plane flying north at a low altitude. He said the plane “came out of the sky at a very sharp angle” and banked to the left. He said he saw a “giant plume of black smoke” when it crashed.
The plane crashed in a freshly plowed field at the Harbes Family Farm, said Evelyn Martinez, a daughter of the farm’s owner, Ed Harbes.
“Firefighters, police officers and rescue personnel arrived at the scene within minutes and put out the ensuing fire,” Martinez said in a statement. “This is a sad tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the passengers of the aircraft.”
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
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