Cessna Down Off Freeport, 4 People Dead

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - The U.S. Coast Guard assisted Bahamian Air Sea Rescue Monday in trying to find a plane which crashed en route to the Bahamas.

The Cessna 340 crashed on approach to Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama after taking off from Ormond Beach Municipal Airport near Daytona Beach, Florida, said Assistant Commissioner Emrick Seymour of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

There were four men on board and all were killed in the crash, Seymour said. Their identities and nationalities were not released pending notification of their families.

The plane crashed into an area of shallow water and mangrove and it occurred during low tide, delaying the initial search effort, Seymour said. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the U.S. Coast Guard and local volunteers took park in the search.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board was assisting the government of the Bahamas with the investigation.

Grand Bahama is about 70 miles off the coast of Florida.

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