Five people, including the pilot, died after a plane crashed within a minute of take-off at North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, police said on Sunday.
Horry County coroner Tamara Willard told the media that four died on the spot and one was taken out of the wreckage of the plane and transferred to a hospital. But he also died a short while later.
The plane – a Piper PA-32R-300 – had departed the Grand Strand Airport before crashing two miles northwest, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Sunday.
According to FlightAware data, the plane took off at 11.02am and crashed at 11.03am.
“The Horry County Coroner’s Office is still in the process of identifying the victims. They will be releasing the information once everyone is identified and next of kin are notified,” North Myrtle Beach Police public information officer Pat Wilkinson told CNN.
The coroner’s office said that the victims’ identities will be revealed once their families are notified.
Local media reported that several of the victims are related and their families are from another country.
The aircraft seats six people and is considered by aviation experts as a “high performance” single-engine plane.
So far, the circumstances behind the crash were unknown. NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] have launched an investigation.
Meanwhile, the road where the wreckage landed was closed and reopened only on Monday night. The crash took place along Pete Dye Drive just off Gray Heron Road, according to the police.
According to local reports, the plane’s registration number – N5524F – indicated that it belonged to New Jersey native Joseph T Farnese. But it was unclear whether he was flying the plane or was on it, according to WBTW News 13.
