Crews call off search for possible plane in Monongahela River
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The search for a possible plane in the Monongahela River has been called off.
Emergency crews had been scouring the water and land in the area of Ronco, Fayette County, after getting a 911 call Friday night of a plane that went down and never came back up.
"The operation has gotten very large," Ayda Volunteer Fire Department Chief LC Otto said.
"Large" means crews from Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. They added tools to this search.
"There's a lot of capabilities that our crews in this area do not have, so we had to call outside the county," Otto said.
They used boats, underwater sonar, and drones.
"We're a little bit better prepared today because we had an opportunity to plan a response versus yesterday [which] was an emergency response," Otto said.
Chief Otto said divers were being brought in to help search what they called an "area of interest."
"We picked something up on our sonar that requires some additional investigation before we can rule out it not being anything," Otto said.
He said there was also a chance there was nothing, but that ping had them still searching.
"If we find out that it's not [a plane], then we have to regroup and figure out our next if any, plans of action," Otto said.
The Fayette County district attorney says while the investigation remains active, as of Saturday night, they've found no further evidence of a downed plane in the water or on land.
He says they also haven't gotten any reports of a missing person.
Anyone with information should report it immediately.
