- Single-engine plane crashed just north of the George Washington Bridge
- Both passengers plucked from the water and have been taken to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia
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| Rescue: A team of on and off-duty Yonkers police officers bring one of plane crash victims to safety |
Both passengers of a small plane have been plucked out of the icy waters of the Hudson River by rescuers after the aircraft crashed.
The single-engine plane went down about four to five miles north of the George Washington Bridge in Yonkers, New York, at about 5:25pm local time on Sunday evening.
The plane, a Piper Cherokee PA-32, had suffered some sort of mechanical failure in the air, and the pilot was forced to ditch the plane in the river, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The passengers, a man and a woman, were both wearing life vests and were safely pulled out of the water by several off-duty Yonkers police officers who had boarded a pilot boat in the area.
They were joined by two on-duty EMS workers.
They had been in the freezing water for about 20 minutes, police said.
The Yonkers Police Department said that it had received numerous 911 calls from witnesses who had seen the plane crash into the water.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told MailOnline that the aircraft is now fully submerged in the water.
Bergen said the flight was not receiving air traffic control services at the time of the crash.
The pilot told local authorities that the flight departed Trenton-Robbinsville Airport in Robbinsville, New Jersey.
Police said the passengers were a 39-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man both from New Jersey. Their names have not yet been released.
The passengers were rushed to Jacobi Hospital for treatment of hypothermia. They are both expected to survive.
A Coast Guard spokesman told MailOnline: 'They were uninjured but in very cold water.'
According to FAA records, the plane - which was built in 1967 - was registered to Dominick Lipariti Jr.
Reached at his New Jersey home, Mr Lipariti told MailOnline that he had sold the plane on Tuesday, but would not disclose the name of the buyer.
The crash brought back memories of the crash of US Airways Flight 1549, in which all 155 people aboard were safely rescued after Capt Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger ditched the plane in the river.
The captain's heroics and the subsequent rescue on January 15, 2009 were dubbed the 'Miracle on the Hudson.'
source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2269310/Two-passengers-rescued-plane-crashes-New-Yorks-Hudson-River.html#ixzz2JyKBwUsO
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