Authorities said the plane took off from Mexico and went down in the bay while attempting to land at Scholes International Airport.
GALVESTON, Texas — A plane crashed into Galveston Bay on Monday, killing five people and injuring two, according to authorities.
It happened just west of the Galveston Causeway. The United States Coast Guard said it got a call about the crash around 3:15 p.m.
Around 7 p.m., Coast Guard officials said that there were eight people on board, and five of them died. Two were hospitalized and one is still unaccounted for.
According to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, the plane took off from Mexico. According to data from Flightradar24, it took off from Merida, Mexico, which is the capital city of the Mexican state of Yucatán.
Sheriff’s office officials said the plane was heading to Galveston with at least one pediatric burn patient on board, and, according to video from the scene, at least one child was pulled from the water and loaded onto an ambulance.
Sheriff’s office officials said its dive team was helping at the crash scene, which was just north of Scholes International Airport, where the plane was attempting to land. They also said the Texas Department of Public Safety is leading the investigation into what happened.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Safety Transportation Board were on scene.
The Secretary of the Navy for Mexico posted to social media that one of its aircraft that was conducting a medical support mission “experienced an incident” on approach to Galveston. The post referenced a foundation for burned children.
People were asked to avoid the area while emergency response crews worked at the scene.
The Galveston area was very foggy on Monday. While it’s unclear if the fog played a role in the crash, it was likely impacting search and rescue efforts.
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