1 dead, 2 critically injured after seaplane crashes into Queens pier

QUEENS, N.Y. — One person died and two were critically injured Sunday afternoon when a seaplane crashed into a concrete pier in Whitestone, Queens.

A jet skier, who witnessed the crash and helped rescue the two survivors, was also injured but treated on the scene, The New York Times reported.

“Witnesses said that the plane was traveling rather fast along the water, skipped twice and hit the pier,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said during a news conference.

The single-engine Cessna 182, he said, was “broken in pieces.”

The crash occurred shortly after 3 p.m. and the damaged pier belonged to the Beechhurst Beach Club just west of the Throgs Neck Bridge, WABC reported.

Officials with the New York City Fire Department confirmed that two people were rescued; firefighters removed a third person; one passenger died; and the male pilot and a male passenger are in critical condition, the TV station reported.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio asked the public in a tweet to keep the victims in their thoughts.

According to a statement issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the crash, local authorities will release the total number of people aboard the seaplane, their names and their medical conditions.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause of the accident and will release all updates, the FAA stated.

Commissioner Nigro did confirm to the Times, however, that the pilot was “a local resident” known to many in the neighborhood who “flies in and out of here often.” The plane is usually kept nearby in a hangar behind the pilot’s home, he added.

Cox Media Group