Body Found on Long Island Beach ID'ed as Missing Plane Passenger

SETAUKET, NY - A 23-year-old Queens man who had been missing since a small plane crashed into a Long Island harbor in February was found dead on a Setauket beach Monday morning, police said.

The body of Gerson Salmon-Negron was discovered around 9:10 a.m. near where a plane went down on the night of Feb. 20.

According to police, a student pilot, 25-year-old Austricio Ramirez, was flying the Piper Archer four-seat fixed wing aircraft when the plane, which departed from Fitchburg, Mass., and was returning to Republic Airport in Farmingdale, began experiencing engine difficulties.

Ramirez turned the controls over to the instructor pilot, 36-year-old Nelson Gomez, who was then forced to make an emergency landing in the harbor close to the shore between Poquott and Strongs Neck, police said.

All four men on board were able to exit the plane after the crash into the 37-degree waters. Ramirez, of the Bronx, Gomez, of Queens, and 25-year-old Wady Perez, of Queens, were all rescued by Suffolk County Police officers. Authorities conducted an extensive search for Salmon-Negron.

The discovery of Salmon-Negron's body comes a day after a single-engine plane crashed onto a Long Island road, seriously injuring the pilot.