2 Confirmed Dead in NY Plane Crash

Two men were killed Thursday when a single-engine plane bound for Ohio crashed north of New York City. The Beechcraft A36 took off from JFK Airport at 4:58pm and crashed near Westchester County Airport, around 40 miles away, soon after the pilot contacted the airport to report low oil pressure, followed by engine problems, CBS reports. After the pilot lost contact with the control tower, rescue crews spent hours searching woods, a lake, and a reservoir in rough weather before finding the crashed plane in trees near the airport late Thursday, NBC New York reports. The bodies of the pilot and passenger were found nearby.

The plane had been headed to a regional airport near Cleveland, where both men were prominent members of the Jewish community, reports News 12. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. COLLive, an Orthodox Jewish news service, identified the pilot as Borach Taub and the passenger as Binyamin Chafetz. COLLive reports that Chafetz sent a final text message to his wife: "We lost our engines. I love you and the children, forgive me for everything I did, say Tehillim and ask the community to pray."

(More plane crash stories.)