WASHINGTON / PALAKKAD: A small plane with three Indian Americans, two of them Keralites, on board crashed into the Mohawk River near Scotia in upstate New York. Bodies of two of the victims were recovered, while the third was still to be accounted for.
The single-engine Piper Cherokee belonged to Albany hotelier George Kolath, 42. He, his 11-year-old son and a doctor friend were out on a pleasure trip on Sunday when the plane crashed.
The bodies of George Kolath Jr and the doctor, Chris Raghavan, were fished out from the 30 ft deep river, but Kolath Sr remained unaccounted for as of Sunday night, reports said.
The search that was suspended because of darkness was to be resumed on Monday.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said three people were aboard the plane, which is registered to Kolath Airlines LLC of Bear, Delaware.
Kolath, hailing from Kerala, was said to own several hotels. Reports said he was also a real estate developer, who had listed a $30 million mansion overlooking the Mohawk River for sale. His brother is well-known film producer and director Tom George.
Tom told Express he hoped his brother would be found alive. He said the family had been settled in the US for the last two decades. Kolath’s last visit to his home in Palakkad was four years ago.
While the cause of the crash was not known, witnesses were quoted as saying that the plane was having difficulty gaining altitude while taking off from the Mohawk Valley Airport.
“I just can’t believe it,” Kolath’s brother-in-law Anil Paulose said. “He was a great inspiration. He was the most high spirited person I’ve ever seen. He was so full of energy.” George Kolath Jr was the eldest of six children.