HOKES BLUFF, Ala. (AP) -- A flying instructor and his student were believed dead after their single-engine plane crashed into the Coosa River, authorities said.
The plane was found soon after the crash, which occurred mid-afternoon in an area known as Coates Bend, just north of Hokes Bluff and about 20 miles northeast of Gadsden. Divers searched the river for the men, whose names were not released.
Witnesses who live near the crash site told Etowah County authorities the plane clipped a power line hanging over the river and made a splashing sound.
``It was about at tree level over the river,'' Coates Bend volunteer firefighter Michael Barton told The Gasden Times. ``About the same time it hit the power line it banked hard to the right.''
The plane took off from the Gadsden airport around 1 p.m., Sheriff James Hayes said. The flying instructor was from Gadsden, and the student was believed to be from Calhoun County.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash once the two people or their bodies are found, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
