Plane Crash Kills 5 In Southeast Georgia

A single-engine plane crashed in southeast Georgia killing all five people aboard, officials said Thursday. The crash occurred Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Bacon County Airport, about 212 miles southwest of capital Atlanta.

The aircraft, an RV-10, went down about 4 miles east of the airport, scattering debris across the area, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing officials. The deceased were four men and a woman from the rural city of Alma in Bacon County. Authorities found the plane wreckage Wednesday afternoon after the wife of the plane's owner reported him and other passengers missing.

Bacon County coroner Vic Peacock said that the wreckage of the airplane might have been thrown across a pine forest area about 300 feet in diameter, AP reported. "We don't have an intact plane," Peacock reportedly said. "There's wreckage everywhere in this small area. It just disintegrated, basically," he added.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash. According to Bacon County Sheriff Richard Foskey, the plane took off at around 2:30 a.m.

"They didn't file a flight plan and we don't know why they took off at this time of the morning," Foskey reportedly said Thursday.

The deceased were identified as Waylon Boatright, the 38-year-old owner of the plane, Drayden Sears, 24, Logan Tomberlin, 23, Ethan Hampton, 23, and Angel Wade, 20.