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2 Florida men flying to visit friends killed in Warren County plane crash

Posted at 12:29 AM, Oct 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-18 11:44:30-04

TURTLECREEK TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- The two men killed in a Sunday evening plane crash in Warren County were Florida residents on a trip, according to the Warren County Coroner’s Office and WCPO news partner WHIO.

Eric Hackney, 43, and Jesse Loy, 36, were flying from Punta Gorda, Florida, to visit friends in Warren County when their small plane crashed in a forested area along the Little Miami River.

The site of the crash was so dense with trees that first responders dispatched at 5:45 p.m. struggled to reach the flaming wreckage.

"There was an opening in the big sycamore trees that were down there and there were parts of the plane hanging from the tree limbs," said Dirk Morgan, who owns Morgan Riverside Camps and knew how to help firefighters navigate the steep, heavily wooded terrain. "I just know I saw the smoking remains of what appeared to be a plane and parts, and I prayed for the families who lost their loved ones."

Doyle Burke of the Warren County Coroner’s Office said the fire had engulfed the plane and its occupants so quickly it was impossible to tell even the sex or ages of the victims at the crash site.

Officials from both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board examined the crash site Sunday and Monday.