14 DAY TRIAL // A small single-engine plane made an abrupt landing on January 27, and crashed directly into the Hudson River, in New York.
According to the Daily Mail, the accident occurred near the George Washington Bridge in Yonkers, New York. Yonkers police were called in to intervene at 5:25 p.m. local time. The crash spot is located 10 miles (16 km) south of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Both passengers on the Piper Cherokee PA-32 have safely been brought to shore, and are set to recover. They were wearing their life vests as officers fished them out of the cold waters of the river.
New York Post mentions that police boarded a pilot boat off the JFK Marina Launch to reach the victims of the crash. Emergency operators were dispatched as multiple calls came in from witnesses to the incident.
They found the pair in the freezing water, where they had been swimming for 20 minutes before being rescued. They have been treated for hypothermia.
Two on-duty EMS workers took part in the rescue effort, as did several off-duty police officers, Assistant Chief Thomas Fitzpatrick of the Yonkers Fire Department noted.
The U.S. Coast Guard cites a mechanical difficulty as the cause of the crash. FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen states that the aircraft lies fully submerged in the waters of the Hudson.
The passengers were a 39-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man, both New Jersey residents. They had departed from Trenton-Robbinsville Airport in Robbinsville, New Jersey. They lost contact with air traffic control before landing in the river.
FAA records read that the small plane, built in 1967, is owned by one Dominick Lipariti Jr. of Manalapan, in New Jersey. However, he told reporters that he had sold it on Thursday, January 24, and had already filed the relevant paperwork.