Woman, Child Dead After Plane Crashes Into Gulf Of Mexico: Police

VENICE, FL — A woman and child are dead, and one person is still missing after a small plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, Venice Police Department wrote in a Facebook post.

The wreckage of a rented Piper Cherokee was found Sunday about 1/3 of a mile offshore, just west of the Venice Municipal Airport, police said.

The Federal Aviation Administration asked the agency Sunday just after 10 a.m. to check with the Venice airport for an overdue plane that hadn’t returned Saturday night to the airport it flew out of in St. Petersburg.

Boaters found the body of a woman who was on the flight floating in the Gulf about 2.5 miles west of Venice Beach on Sunday morning, VPD said.

Multiple agencies responded to the area where her body was found to search for other people from the plane and wreckage. Just after 2 p.m., the missing plane was discovered in the water, police said.

Divers from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office found the body of a child in the plane’s passenger area, according to VPD.

Authorities believe that a male pilot or passenger was also on the plane during the flight. As of Sunday afternoon, his body hadn’t been found.

Though the agency has information about those who were believed to have been on the plane, officials haven’t released that information yet.

The search ended Sunday at sunset and will continue Monday as conditions allow, police said.