3 couples die in plane crash near Tuscaloosa
Victims were all from Mississippi
The six victims of a Sunday plane crash just east of Tuscaloosa Regional Airport are from Mississippi, according to media reports.
FlightAware.com had shown the flight en route to Oxford from Kissimmee, Florida. The plane was a twin-piston Piper Navajo, according to Flight Aware.
Tuscaloosa police Lt. Teena Richardson confirmed the six deaths from the plane crash behind the farmers market in Northport. She said the identities of the victims had not been officially confirmed, nor would she release the genders pending further investigation and notification of the next of kin.
Oxford dentist Dr. Jason Farese and his wife Lea were aboard the plane, the Farese family told The Clarion-Ledger. They owned and operated Farese Family Dental in Oxford.
Dr. Michael Perry and his wife, Kim, and Dr. Austin Poole and his wife, Angie, were also on the plane, The Oxford Citzen and The Oxford Eagle reported.
TuscaloosaNews.com reportedNorthport Mayor Bobby Herndon said at a joint press conference with Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox that the pilot issued a distress signal around 11:10a.m. Rescue crews were staged at the runway where the plane was set to land, but it didn’t make it, officials said.
Firefighters made it to the site of the crash in less than three minutes but were unable to save the victims, Herndon told TuscaloosaNews.com. The plane crashed in the wooded area of Van de Graaff Park just south of Robert Cardinal Airport Road.
Farese, who is originally from Ashland and graduated from Marshall Academy, played baseball at Vanderbilt University, where he was a team captain his senior year.
Davis reports that all three couples had three children each.
The plane was registered on Oxford University Aircraft Charters LLC, for which the registered agent is listed as Jason P. Farese.
Messages left for the Tuscaloosa County Coroner, the Tuscaloosa Police Department and emails to the Tuscaloosa Mayor’s Office have not yet been returned.