Victim in plane crash near Half Moon Bay identified; 3 other occupants unaccounted for
The San Mateo County Coroner's Office identified one of the four people who were in a plane crash near Half Moon Bay on Sunday.
One of the victims was identified as 27-year-old Emma Pearl Willmer-Shiles of San Francisco.
A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration incorrectly listed one passenger, along with the pilot, inside the Cozy Mark IV single-engine plane when it went into the water off Moss Beach Sunday evening after taking off from the Half Moon Bay airport.
But preliminary information released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board indicated there were four people on board the single-engine Cozy Mark IV aircraft, a pilot and three passengers.
The report said the "aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances into the ocean."
Witnesses reported seeing the plane fly erratically and hearing the engine sputter around the nearby Moss Beach Distillery. The U.S. Coast Guard and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office responded and discovered the wreckage of the plane about an hour into the search.
On Monday morning, the sheriff's office said the body of a woman was spotted by a commercial fishing boat in the area where the plane went down. It's believed she was aboard the aircraft based on the location where the body was found.
There was no word on the three other occupants. The crash is being investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
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