Divers pull plane wreckage from Lake Harney

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Seminole County Sheriff's Office divers spent Monday searching for, and ultimately finding, the wreckage of a plane that plunged into Lake Harney Friday, killing all three people aboard.

The bodies of pilot Kamalesh Naik, 56, of Sanford, and passengers Men Tao, 22, and Hou Xupeng, 23, both of China, were pulled from the sunken Connection 900 King Air plane Saturday.

"The divers that have been underwater (are) reporting 5 to 8 inches of visibility," said Joshua Cawthra, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator. "We want to know what happened, why it happened and how to prevent the accident from ever occurring again."

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The plane was traveling to Orlando-Sanford International Airport when it crashed near the Seminole-Volusia County line, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

While the cause of the crash remains unknown, Cawthra said that radio communication was lost. No distress calls were received, he said.

The search for plane parts is expected to last several days.

Once recovered, the aircraft will be taken to a secure facility in Jacksonville.

A preliminary report will be released later this week.

Cox Media Group