Florida Plane Crash Claims Lives of Family

By Vickie Frantz, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

Jun 8, 2012; 4:11 PM ET

A single-engine plane crashed in Lake Wales, Fla., Thursday, killing all six of the passengers onboard.

The plane, a Pilatus PC-12 turboprop, left the St. Lucie County International Airport at 12:05 p.m. EDT after being cleared through customs, according to the Gannett News Service. The plane was en route from Treasure Cay, Bahamas, to Freeman Field in Junction City, Kan., at the time of the crash.

A call came in to 911 around 12:40 p.m. EDT. Rescue teams had to use ATVs to reach the crash site. Medical crews were flown in. The area of the crash is remote.

As of Friday afternoon, five of the family members had been found and a search was still underway for the sixth member, reported to be a child.

Debris from the plane has been located as far as 2 miles from the crash site. Officials hold no hope that the child survived the crash.

An investigation into the cause of the crash will be conducted by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the National Transportation Safety Board and the manufacturers of the plane and the plane's engine.

Weather is not believed to have played a role.

"At the time of the crash, it was a cloudy, warm and humid Florida day. There were a few showers in the area but nothing particularly heavy was shown on the radar in the plane's flight path," said AccuWeather Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity.

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