Crime & Safety

Details of Hudson River Plane Crash Emerge

This morning, new details about the heroic river rescue by Yonkers' Finest are coming to light.

 

The two people on board the plane that crashed into the Hudson Sunday nights are only being identified as a 39-year-old female and 43-year old male from New Jersey, according to Yonkers Police.

And though authorities are being tight-lipped about the identity of the two New Jersey residents, they are now telling the story of last night's rescue.

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Yonkers Police say they got a call that a low flying plane went into the Hudson River around 5:23 p.m. last night. Officers rushed to the shore of the Hudson River and found out that the plane went down next to Yonkers' Glenwood Train Station. The police officers could see that there were two people in the water, but they couldn't get to them. They could also see that their plane was almost completely submerged.

At the same time, three off-duty Yonkers Police Officers and a retired Yonkers Police Detective got word of the plane crash. They rushed over to Alexander Street, which is a mile south of where the plane crashed. The four men got into a boat, belonging to the Hudson River Pilot House, along with Officers Christopher Balezentis and Michael Atkins. The six men then sped off to look for the people in the water.

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About 23 minutes after the plane went down, the six men on the boat were able to fish the two New Jersey residents out of the frigid Hudson River waters. They sped back to the shore, where an ambulance was able to take the plane crash survivors to Jacobi Medical Center to be treated for hypothermia. The condition of the two is not known at this time, but police say they are expected to survive.

Shortly after the two were rescued, their aircraft sank into the Hudson River. 

The FAA says that the two took off from Trenton-Robbinsville Airport, which is located in Robbinsville, NJ. The plane that they were flying in was a Piper PA-32, which is a light aircraft that can seat up to six people. They were manufactured from 1965 up until 2007.


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