NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net
.jpg)
Photo by Dale Smith / Divers with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office recovered the two bodies in the cabin of a small plane that crashed Wednesday night in the ocean about 200 yards from the New Smyrna Beach shoreline.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The bodies of the two victims from Wednesday's plane crash were recovered at approximately 10:20 this morning.
Divers with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office were assisted with the recovery of the victims by Volusia County Beach Patrol along with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office's Dive Team and the use of their agency's side scan sonar units.
"The bodies were found inside the cabin of the plane, which is in approximately 20 feet of water and about 200 yards off the shore of Bethune Beach," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. "The bodies have been brought to shore and will be turned over to the Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsies."
The Sheriff's Office's Major Case Unit also is conducting a death investigation, which is customary with fatal plane crashes. A large portion of the aircraft's engine has been located in the water and marked with buoys.
The cause of the 6:30 p.m. Wednesday crash, in which the plane was seen spiraling straight down into the ocean by eyewitnesses, is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the Cessna 172 Skyhawk flew out of Sarasota and was on its way to Daytona Beach International Airport when it crashed off New Smyrna Beach. The plane was owned by Phoenix East Aviation flight school in Daytona Beach and the flight instructor and student pilot aboard were believed to have been from Norway.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Butch Wilson told media outlets the cause of the crash may not be determined for many months and possibly a year because of the complexities of the investigation that include not only recovery of craft debris, but also flight data, weather conditions, radio transmissions and other relevant information.