PRENTISS COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) -- Search and rescue workers have discovered the bodies of three occupants of a plane that crashed in New Site Sunday afternoon, according to Prentiss County Emergency Management Director Ralph Lauderdale.
Lauderdale said hours of searching led them to the cabin's discovery. They found pieces of the small plane scattered across a one-mile area: a tail section, the wing and other pieces of debris and personal effects.
He said they believe the plane fell from around 8,000 feet before hitting the ground. Rescue officials are now working to extricate the bodies from the cabin, partially buried in the ground from the force of the crash.
Officials located the plane's cabin at about 4:30 p.m.
Tolar said Memphis air traffic controllers confirmed an aircraft disappeared from their radar approximately 10 miles southeast of the Booneville area.
It was described as a small plane with three occupants.
Lauderdale confirms the plane was a small, single-engine Piper 300, flying from Andrews, N.C., to Oxford. He said the plane encountered a severe thunderstorm that could have caused the crash, but investigators will have to confirm that.
Tolar said deputies and rescue workers searched the area south of County Road 4111 and the Siloam Cemetery.
He said they are using nearby New Site High School as a staging area.
Rescue squad member David Modlin said it possibly went down sometime around 2 p.m.
Lauderdale said officials with the National Transportation Safety Board will be at the location sometime before 11 a.m. Monday to investigate.
