Small plane crashes off Connecticut Coast; man and teen pulled out from water

A small plane carrying a 41-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl crashed into the Long Island Sound off the coast of Connecticut on Sunday morning, but both miraculously survived with only minor injuries, according to the New York Post.

The six-seater Piper PA-32 went down near the Thimble Islands around 10.30 am, about ten minutes after taking off from Bridgeport.

Before the crash, the pair made a desperate call for help and were directed to attempt an emergency landing at Tweed New Haven Airport. However, they were unable to make it in time.

They were rescued when the Coast Guard Station New Haven sent a 45-foot response boat to the scene after the Sector Long Island Sound Command Center was alerted by the air traffic control tower that the aircraft had gone down.

According to Branford fire department deputy chief Jason Karpovich, the initial emergency call was reported as a “boat taking on water” before a dispatcher realised it involved a sinking plane. Fire officials arrived at the crash site in a rescue boat roughly 25 minutes after the incident, by which time the aircraft was fully submerged.

The Piper PA-32 is a single-engine plane built by Piper Aircraft. The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the FAA.