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Search ends for plane missing in Lake Erie

Debris and human remains, believed to be from the plane crash, were recovered.

By Ed Adamczyk
Khalid Bahhur, commissioner of Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport, announced Tuesday that the search for a missing plane has ended. Dive teams searched frozen Lake Erie and found debris from the plane and human remains from the Dec. 29 crash. Six people were aboard the plane. Screenshot from WKYC-TV, Cleveland/YouTube
Khalid Bahhur, commissioner of Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport, announced Tuesday that the search for a missing plane has ended. Dive teams searched frozen Lake Erie and found debris from the plane and human remains from the Dec. 29 crash. Six people were aboard the plane. Screenshot from WKYC-TV, Cleveland/YouTube

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The search for a private plane that crashed into Lake Erie, carrying six people, is over, Cleveland city officials announced.

The plane carrying Cleveland businessman John Fleming; his wife, Sue; their two sons, Andrew and Jack; and two neighbor children, Brian and Megan Casey, disappeared from radar screens shortly after it took off from Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport on Dec. 29. Debris believed to be from the plane, as well as the remains of three people, were found by underwater rescue teams in frozen Lake Erie. A statement by Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Thomas Gilson said three positive identifications of those remains have been made, but the identities of the remains were not specified.

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Rescue personnel returned to the water Tuesday, but late Tuesday afternoon Khalid Bahhur, commissioner of the airport, announced the end of the recovery operations.

"A decision like this is not made lightly, but it is a decision that must be made at some point to provide closure to the families, and to those who worked closely on this operation," Bahhur said.

The search was originally undertaken by the U.S. Coast Guard, then transferred to the city of Cleveland.

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After the Cleveland police complete their report, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will continue their own investigations.

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