Five family members were killed in a plane crash in Georgia as they were traveling to a funeral in Indiana, authorities said Friday night.
The Putnam County Georgia Sheriff's Office said in a statement that the family was flying from Williston, Florida, to Newcastle, Indiana, for a funeral.
Sheriff Howard R. Sills told WXIA-TV, NBC's affiliate in Atlanta Georgia, that he was sitting at his office desk when he "heard a loud explosion." Shortly afterward, his phone started ringing. It was a resident who said he "had seen the a plane on fire in the air." Other residents also called him saying they had found debris from the aircraft in their yards.
At about 3:30 p.m. Friday, a Piper 31T twin-engine turbo prop aircraft crashed in a densely wooded area around Eatonton in Georgia, police said. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the crash.
Sills said he does not know how many people were on board the plane at the time of the accident, but he confirmed the deaths of the five relatives, most of whom are Florida residents.
Larry Ray Pruitt, 67, pilot and owner of aircraft, was killed in the crash alongside his daughter Jody Rae Lamont, 43, and her husband Shawn Charles Lamont, 41.
Their children, Jayce Lamont and Alice Lamont, both 6-year-olds, were also killed in the crash.
The fire caused by the crash was extinguished and the family's remains recovered.
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to investigate the incident, according to Sills.