*UPDATES BELOW*
Federal Aviation Administration personnel from Birmingham, Alabama are arriving in South Walton County to take over the crash investigation of a single-engine aircraft which went down in the Gulf of Mexico at 12:36 this afternoon.
The World War Two era AT6-Texan crashed about a mile offshore from Topsail Hill Preserve State Park off South Walton County. The plane would then sink. The Walton County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by numerous local, state, and federal agencies: the U.S. Coast Guard; the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission; Walton Fire-Rescue; the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Dive team.
Late this afternoon, divers were able to locate the aircraft with its two occupants inside. The male pilot and his female passenger were pronounced dead at the scene and their bodies sent to the First Judicial Circuit Medical Examiners office in Fort Walton Beach for an autopsy. The release of the victims’ names is pending notification of family.
The FAA will coordinate efforts to retrieve the plane from the Gulf of Mexico, and will conduct its investigation into the cause of the tragedy.
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