Northport Police and other agencies work the scene of a plane crash, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, near the Tuscaloosa airport in Northport, Ala. The pilot was on final descent to the runway when it malfunctioned and crashed in a wooded park area.
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Herndon said that firefigthers arrived on the scene within three minutes after the Piper PA-31 crashed.
It will be at least 10 days before the National Transportation Safety Board releases preliminary results of their investigation into a plane crash that killed six people. According to the Chicago Tribune, Mayor Herndon said, “They did everything they could”. She said the identities of the victims had not been officially confirmed, nor would she release the genders pending further investigation and notification of the next of kin. Please pray for them, and the little orphans each of them left behind’. They had been attending a dental seminar together in Florida.
Officials at the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport in Alabama say they received a distress call, but the plane crashed nearby before it could make it.
Flight trackers showed that the only flight Sunday from Kississimmee to Oxford, a Piper PA 31-A registered to a MS company, took off at 9:55 a.m. and didn’t arrive as scheduled in Oxford after it was diverted to Tuscaloosa about 11:25 a.m. (12:25 p.m. ET). Authorities said several people are dead following the crash of a small airplane near Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant issued a statement, saying “It’s tragic to lose these wonderful Mississippians”, according to AL.com.
A prayer service organized by family friends will be held at Rafters Bar and Grill at 6 p.m, as well.
FAA records showed the twin-engine aircraft was manufactured in 1984.
The six victims were identified by Mississippi State Representative Jay Hughes as Lea and Jason Farese, Angie and Austin Poole and Kim and Michael Perry. The Fareses and the Perrys leave behind three children, while the Poole dentists are survived by five young children. They also had three children.
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“It’s with a heavy heart I express my honest condolences to the family and friends mourning the sudden loss of the six people killed in Sunday morning’s plane crash in Northport”, said University of Alabama President Stuart R. Bell.
