JHU Student Killed In Costa Rica Plane Crash: Report

BALTIMORE, MD — A Johns Hopkins University student was among 12 killed in a plane crash in Costa Rica on New Year's Eve. He and his family were on a sightseeing tour at the time.

There were 10 Americans aboard the plane and two pilots from Costa Rica, officials said.

Zachary Steinberg, a sophomore studying engineering at Johns Hopkins University, died in the crash. He and his family of five, who lived in Scarsdale, New York, were on vacation in Costa Rica at the time.

"We are all deeply saddened by this tragic loss," Kevin Shollenberger, vice provost for student affairs at Johns Hopkins Universtiy's Homewood campus, said in a statement to JHU news source The Hub.

Steinberg was "an active and engaged member of our campus community who will be missed by many," the statement said.

The engineering student was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity as well as Hillel and Engineers Without Borders, The Hub reported.

Steinberg and his family were aboard a charter flight that had taken off from the resort town of Punta Islita on the Pacific coast after noon on Sunday and was headed for the capital of San Jose when it crashed in a wooded area, Costa Rica officials said.

Video shows the Nature Air plane engulfed in flames not far from Punta Islita in Guanacaste province. There were no survivors.

Backroads, a sightseeing company that coordinates tours in Costa Rica, issued a statement saying that it lost its employee Amanda Geissler, a native of Thorp, Wisconsin.

"Aboard the flight were nine Backroads guests, a Backroads Trip Leader and two flight crew members," the statement said. "A second Nature Air flight carrying Backroads guests and another Trip Leader arrived safely in San Jose."

There were two families aboard the sightseeing plane that crashed, including Steinberg.

Bruce and Irene Steinberg of New York as well as their sons Matthew, Wiliam and Zachary died when the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan went down, officials said.

Florida family Mitchell and Leslie Weiss and their children Hannah and Ari, from the Tampa Bay area, had also been on the flight.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families impacted by this tragedy," the Backroads statement said.

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The flight took off from Punta Islita with the crew and 10 passengers at 12:10 p.m. and crashed about 10 minutes later, according to Enio Cubillo, director of Costa Rica Civil Aviation.

Winds of 20 knots, or 23 mph, were reported at the time, Cubillo said.

Cubillo identified the pilot as Juan Manuel Retana and described him as very experienced. Former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said via Twitter that Retana was her cousin. The co-pilot was identified as Emma Ramos.

Cubillo said the plane flew from San Jose without passengers on Sunday morning, but was unable to land at Punta Islita because of high winds and diverted to Tambor.

When the winds decreased, it landed at Punta Islita without problems, he said.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

— By Don Johnson, Patch Staff, and Elizabeth Janney

Pictured, the site of a plane crash near in Punta Islita, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017. A government statement says there were 10 foreigners and two Costa Rican crew members aboard the plane belonging to Nature Air, which had taken off nearby. (Costa Rica's Public Safety Ministry via AP)