UPDATED: Two Norwegians from a flight school in Florida remained missing after the small plane they were flying crashed into the ocean off Daytona Beach. It may take months before the cause of crash is determined, reports Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
The search continued Friday for the victims, now confirmed to be a Nowegian instructor at the flight school, Phoenix East Aviation, and his Norwegian student. Their identities weren’t released in Norway pending notification of next of kin.
The school in Florida has an exchange agreement with a flight school in Oslo, Luftfartsskolen, and around 70 Norwegians were enrolled in the Florida program. Several traveled to the Daytona area to take part in the search.
Wreckage from the Cessna plane washed up along the coast near New Smyrna Beach, but divers were having trouble locating the plane and the victims because of poor visibility.
The plane was on its way from Sarasota to Daytona when it crashed just after 6:30pm local time (12:30am Norwegian time) on Wednesday. Some witnesses said the plane began to burn before crashing, and sank quickly.
Newspaper Aftenposten reported that a pastor from the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in New Orleans was on his way to Florida to offer support to the Norwegian students and staff, as were representatives from the Association of Norwegian Students Abroad (ANSA).
Views and News staff