Officials: Small plane crash in North Lindenhurst kills 1, injures 2

A small plane crashed in North Lindenhurst Sunday afternoon in the area of 5th Street and North Wellwood Avenue, killing one person on board and critically injuring two others.
A video of the incident taken from a Ring doorbell shows the plane flying low, striking trees and bursting into flames. It crashed just 300 feet south of Long Island Rail Road tracks.
The fire from the crash ignited some nearby woods along the LIRR tracks, which prompted a shutdown of service for several hours.
There were no injuries on the ground or damage to any homes.
Suffolk County Police Department Chief of Detectives John Rowan said air traffic controllers at Republic Airport received a call about smoke in the cockpit around 3 p.m. The single engine plane was privately owned had been on a sightseeing tour and was on its final approach back to the airport before it crashed.
"The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit. That aircraft was attempting to return to Republic Airport when, unfortunately, he did not make it and crashed in this area behind us," Rowan said.
Police had not identified the victims as of Sunday night.
The two people who were injured were medevacked to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition. It was not clear if the deceased was the pilot or a passenger.
Emin Aydan told News 12 Long Island that he helped two people, a man and woman, get to safety before emergency crews arrived.
Jennifer Suriano lives nearby and saw the plume of smoke and did not know what had happened.
"It was a big puff of black smoke like I've never seen before. I told my husband, 'Get out of the house. I don't know what's going on,'" she recalled.
Police and others were glad the plane crashed in a relatively empty area, considering there were buildings and homes nearby.
"We are very fortunate that there was no one else on the ground that was injured. Obviously, this is a tragic event. We are happy no one else was hurt," Rowan said.
Suffolk police said the NTSB and FAA will investigate the crash.
Credit: Nestor Castillo
Credit: Nestor Castillo