Four people died after two small planes slammed into each other over central Florida and then plummeted into the lake below, police said.
The crash occurred on Tuesday in the skies above the Lake Hartridge Nature Park in Winter Haven, according to Bay News 9. When authorities responded to the area around 2 p.m., they found one aircraft floating just below the surface while the second had sunk some 21 feet underwater.
The aircrafts involved include a Piper J-3 Cub sea plane operated by Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base in Winter Haven and a Cherokee Piper 161 fixed-wing plane operated by Sunrise Aviation in Ormond Beach on behalf of Polk State College.
Search and rescue crews spent hours searching the area for survivors, but by 5 p.m., the Polk County sheriff’s office put the death toll at four and shifted to recovery efforts.
So far, three out of the four people killed have been identified. Faith Irene Baker, 24, a pilot and flight instructor with Sunrise Aviation; Zachary Jean Mace, 19, a student at Polk State College, and Randall Elbert Crawford, 67, from Carlisle, Pa. were all killed in the collision.
Police are still working to identify the fourth person.
Baker and Mace were in the Cherokee Piper 161, while Crawford and the fourth victim were in the Piper J-3 Cub, according to the sheriff’s office.
“My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who were killed in today’s crash. The NTSB and FAA will be investigating the cause and circumstances of the collision,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “Please keep the families in your prayers during this difficult and stressful time.”