There were two bodies recovered by authorities after a cargo plane used by the massive online retailer Amazon crashed into Trinity Bay in Texas, according to a statement released by officials on Sunday.
Three people were aboard the Boeing 767 cargo jet when it plunged into the water on Saturday afternoon.
Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said authorities were still in “active recovery mode,” though it was “hard to believe” they would find any survivors.
“The north wind has blown the water out of the bay,” he said. “It’s going to be daunting.”
Mesa Airlines identified one of the people on the plane as Sean Archuleta, a captain who had worked with the company since 2013.
“This is a sad day for the entire Mesa Family as we mourn the loss of Captain Sean Archuleta,” said Jonathan Ornstein, the company’s CEO.
The other two people aboard the plane had not yet been identified.
Robert Sumwalt, the National Transportation Safety Board Chairman, said the plane’s crew last spoke to air traffic controllers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where it was traveling to from Miami, at 12:30 p.m.
It was just nine minutes later, when the plane was at 6,000 feet, it lost communication and radar contact and began a steep nose dive, Sumwalt said.
“There was no distress call,” he said.
The plane, which was operated by Atlas Air Worldwide, had been traveling at 240 knots, or 267 mph, Sumwalt said.
The nose dive was actually captured on a camera at Chambers County Jail, he said. Sumwalt added that it wasn’t clear why the plain crashed.
Investigators found its wings but were still searching for its black boxes, the data and cockpit voice recorder, though Sumwalt said the devices might be buried so deep in mud that they can’t be located electronically.
“We will use a combination of divers, or to dredge for the recorders,” he said.
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