Body found after plane seen ‘flying erratically’ crashes off CA coast, deputies say
A woman’s body has been found after a small plane seen “flying erratically” crashed off California’s coast, a sheriff’s office says.
Witnesses saw a small plane flying near Moss Beach on Sunday, Jan. 14, before it disappeared, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said in a Jan. 15 Facebook post.
Two people were aboard the single-engine Cozy Mark IV when it crashed into the water near Half Moon Bay around 7:30 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News on Jan. 16.
While multiple agencies, including the United States Coast Guard, were searching the area, they found plane debris, deputies said.
The following day, the woman’s body was spotted by those aboard a commercial fishing boat in the same area as the crash, leading deputies to believe “she is likely associated with the plane crash,” according to deputies.
The woman’s body has not been identified, deputies said.
The Coast Guard suspended its search for survivors on Jan. 15, the agency said in a news release.
“It’s never easy to make the decision to suspend search efforts, and our deepest sympathies go out to the families involved in this incident,” Ian McGoohan, operations unit controller at the Sector San Francisco Command Center, said in the release.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, the FAA said. NTSB officials did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment on Jan. 16.
Moss Beach is about 25 miles southwest of San Francisco.
This story was originally published January 16, 2024 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Body found after plane seen ‘flying erratically’ crashes off CA coast, deputies say."
