The Coast Guard is searching for eight people who were victims of a plane crash off the coast of North Carolina, which has left multiple debris fields that have made it difficult to track down the missing.
Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck told reporters Monday afternoon that of the eight people, one body, whose identity has not been released, has been recovered and identified, as well as the of the rest of the missing passengers “out of respect for the families”.
“We have no indication that anyone survived the accident”, acknowledged the bailiff.
In the attempt to find the main body of the plane, they have run into three fields of debris that were moving away more and more from the surface towards the Atlantic Ocean, Buck added.
He noted that the Most of the relatives of the plane passengers live in Carteret, a county that has almost 70,000 inhabitants, and indicated that the authorities have had close contact with them, reported The Associated Press.
For his part, Coast Guard Captain Matthew J. Baer told the press that there were several boats from various agencies helping in the search.
“We have an ‘all hands on deck’ event here,” Baer said. “And we want the citizens of Carteret County and eastern North Carolina to know that their Coast Guard is doing everything possible together with our partners.”
The Coast Guard said in a press release that a possible aircraft was shot down about 4 miles to the east of Drum Inlet from an air traffic controller from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on Sunday. The traffic controller said the aircraft behaved erratically on radar and then disappeared from the screen, reported ABC News.
According to an email issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane Pilatus PC-12/47 single engine crashed into the water about 18 miles northeast of Michael J. Smith Field, in Beaufort, North Carolina, around 2: 00 Sunday pm.
The plane’s departure from Hyde County Airport was at 1: 35 pm, and was last seen near Beaufort at 2: 01 pm, according to a report by FlightAware.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, expressed himself before the incident and sent a message to the relatives of the disappeared, to whom he keeps in prayer.
“We are grateful for the people in our state and local agencies who support the reinforcements of the Coast Guard and other first responders,” Cooper said on Twitter.
The search includes boats and a helicopter from three Coast Guard stations, fire and sheriff’s department personnel, and National Park Service beach personnel.