Bodies Of 2 Ocean City Police Officers Recovered After Plane Crash
OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- Two bodies were recovered from a deadly plane crash in Ocean City.
Mike Hellgren has more on the victims, who were identified as Thomas J. Geoghegan Jr., 43, of Ocean City, and Joshua D. Adickes, 27, of Berlin.
They are both police officers in Ocean City. It was an emotional scene when the bodies were recovered Monday after an exhaustive search. The next step is getting the plane out of the water and finding out what went wrong.
Heartbroken families and members of the Coast Guard hugged on the scene.
Witnesses described the chaos when the plane crashed around 133rd Street.
"All of a sudden, there was a plane and it was spiraling, like nose-diving head first, and I'm thinking to myself, `Is it going to hit the water?'" said one witness.
"She was like, "I can't, I can't watch,'" said a witness.
"It was no explosion, just maybe like a loud sound where it hit the water, and then nothing," said the first witness.
"The whole beach looked up and there was a big `Aah!' They were in shock and everybody was wondering what had happened," said Barry Padlik.
Rough currents made it very hard to continue the search. They went 30 feet below the water to find the officers' bodies. The NTSB is investigating the cause. At this point, it's unclear why the plane went down.
"I understand the closeness and the loss of one of your comrades is very difficult," said Brian Rayner.
Those who knew the pilot say he loved to fly. Both were dedicated officers and the community is mourning over such a tragic loss.
The NTSB has a tough investigation ahead. The plane had taken off less than an hour before it crashed.
Investigators are not sure where the pilot was headed at the time of the crash.
