WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — U.S. Coast Guard and law enforcement crews were searching the waters off the Boynton Beach Inlet for a small aircraft that was reported to have gone down about one mile off the coast Sunday night.
“The person who called in the report said the plane was sinking. But so far, we have not found the plane,” said Petty Officer Jose Hernandez, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Coast Guard 7th District Southeast office in Miami.
He described the plane as a Piper 28 with a four-passenger capacity. It was not known how many people were on board, he said. A Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a single-engine aircraft.
The distress call came in at 8 p.m. EST, he said.
The Coast Guard sent an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from its air station in Miami and a fast-response small boat from its station at Lake Worth Inlet, Hernandez said. The Coast Guard was working closely with the Boynton Beach Police and Fire Rescue departments, he said.
“Right now it’s a search-and-rescue operation,” he said.
