Divers find wreckage of plane in midair collision

(AP) - Divers found the wreckage of a plane Monday in the Hudson River that collided with a sightseeing helicopterover the weekend, killing nine people. The wreckage of the single-engine Piper was found

News 12 Staff

Aug 10, 2009, 8:12 PM

Updated 5,540 days ago

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(AP) - Divers found the wreckage of a plane Monday in the Hudson River that collided with a sightseeing helicopterover the weekend, killing nine people.
The wreckage of the single-engine Piper was found in about 60feet of water in the middle of the river, said New York policespokesman Paul Browne. That indicates currents moved it from thepoint of the crash, which was close to the New Jersey side of thebroad river.
Divers had suspended the search for the wreckage earlier Mondaybecause of poor visibility and swift currents but later resumedtheir work, Browne said.
The bodies of two people who were on the plane have remainedmissing. There was no immediate word on whether they were in theplane.
A Pennsylvania family and an Italian tourist group were killedin Saturday's crash in the busy skies of Manhattan. The helicopterwas raised from the water on Sunday.
The divers Monday fought currents exceeding 3 knots. Siltreduced visibility to less than 6 inches in some places on theriver bottom and was never better than a foot, said New JerseyState Police Lt. Albert Ponenti.
"It was a difficult dive due to the conditions," Ponenti said."It's very risky to put divers in this river because of thecurrents, which can exceed the 3 knots you see on the surface, andbecause of the poor visibility."