Plane that left Columbia crashes in Georgia, killing three
A small plane that took off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport on Tuesday afternoon crashed in Georgia, killing three people.
The crash happened around 4:30 p.m., according to multiple news reports. The Oconee County Sheriff’s Officein Georgia said in an evening briefing that the crash was called in by witnesses.
Oconee County is about 170 miles west of Columbia, just outside of Athens.
Officials found the small plane engulfed in flames. Local emergency personnel attempted to rescue passengers but were unable to because of the fire and damage to the aircraft, according to the sheriff’s office.
The victims have not been identified. According to the latest update from the sheriff’s office, three people were onboard the plane.
There were no survivors, according to the sheriff’s office.
Other than the occupants of the plane, no injuries were reported in the crash, as the sheriff’s office said no one on the ground was hurt.
Kim Jamieson, a spokesperson for Columbia Metropolitan Airport, confirmed the plane took off from the Columbia airport around 3 or 3:15 p.m., about an hour and a half before the crash. Jamieson did not immediately know the plane’s intended destination.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the plane was flying to Tuscaloosa National Airport in Alabama. Atlanta TV news station 11 Alive reported the plane was a Piper PA-46, a propeller-nosed, single-engine aircraft that can carry up to five passengers and a pilot.
The crash occurred about a quarter mile from a main road, about 500 yards from residences, according to the sheriff’s office. The debris field from the crash extended a little more than half a mile from the crash location, officials said.
The area was closed temporarily, but residents were not asked to evacuate, the sheriff’s office said.
The main part of the debris field is in a heavily wooded area, according to the sheriff’s office.
One witness who lives in the area, Andrew Brislin, said the plane was “going around, spinning around in a circle,” CBS46 reported.
Law enforcement said they were not immediately aware of any calls for distress, but the investigation is ongoing.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating and were assisting local agencies, officials said. The Oconee County coroner will take bodies of the deceased to Atlanta for autopsies and identification, officials said.
Information on what caused the plane to crash was not immediately available, but the sheriff’s office was not ruling out a weather-related issue.
“I don’t know (if weather was a factor), I don’t want to speculate as to what the cause of the plane coming down was. But we have had some significant weather in the county this afternoon,” sheriff’s office spokesman Capt. James Hale said during the news briefing.
The sheriff’s office is asking for help identifying the plane’s occupants, and anyone with information is asked to call 706-769-5665.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated as more details become available.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 8:49 PM.
