Cessna 150
A Colgate University student flying a Cessna 150 aircraft involved in Sunday's Madison County plane crash should not have carried a passenger, according federal aviation rules. In this photo, dated May 31, 2015, the wreckage of a crashed Cessna 150 airplane lies in a field near Watkins, Colorado. Reuters/Sgt Aaron Pataluna/Adams County Sheriff/handout

A single-engine aircraft crashed Sunday in New York State’s Madison County killing two Colgate University freshmen. The plane went down shortly after takeoff from Hamilton Municipal Airport.

The aircraft, a Cessna 150, crashed in Morrisville, a rural area in Madison County, Sunday afternoon. Several neighbors called emergency personnel and said they saw the "plane come out of the air and crash" into a wooded area, Morrisville Fire Chief Rick Gorton said, according to Syracuse.com.

The deceased were students of Colgate University in Hamilton, Madison County, 257 miles northwest of New York City. The university identified them as Cathryn Depuy and Ryan Adams, both 19-year-olds from Ridgefield, Connecticut. The two had reportedly rented the aircraft from the airport.

A local resident spotted the plane wreck and brought Gorton to the scene. While the cause of the crash was yet to be determined, the plane seemed to have struck a tree before going down in a forest adjoining a field, New York Daily News reported.

“There wasn’t much for us to do, obviously nothing I can do as an emergency responder. They were already gone,” Gorton told the NY Daily News.

Federal Aviation Authorities launched an investigation into the crash. The investigation and clean up of the area will reportedly take at least two days.

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