The late David Otai, 23
A Kenyan student, pilot David O. Otai, 23 was killed on Sunday morning in when a single engine cessna plane he was flying crashed in Michigan, officials said.
Otai who was a sophomore at Hope College in Holland, Michigan was killed along with a fellow student, Emma E. Biagioni who was a junior at the same college according to Hope College spokesman Tom Renner.
David Otai, 23, a licensed pilot, had rented a single-engine Cessna and took up Hope College sophomore Emma Biagioni, 20, as a passenger. They flew from Tulip City Airport shortly after 10 a.m.
Otai reported having problems to the Muskegon Control Center, which oversees the area flight zone. The crash occurred around 11:30 a.m. in a Manlius Township farm field.
Otai was a captain on his Hope College intramural soccer team, according to the Hope College Web site.
Their plane had just taken off from Tulip City Airport in Holland when it went down in a soybean field.
Emergency crews responded to a distress call just before 11:30 a.m. Airport radar indicated the plane had gone over the Saugatuck area in Allegan County and disappeared, according to a press release from the Allegan County sheriff’s office.
Plane wreckage was soon spotted in the field. Visibility in the area was reduced to an eighth of a mile because of dense fog, authorities said.
The two victims were found trapped in the wreckage and were pronounced dead on the scene.
The Allegan County medical examiner’s office did not immediately release the victims’ names, but Renner confirmed that the Hope College students had been killed.
Biagioni’s sister, Elizabeth, a freshman at Hope College, was being escorted home to St. Charles on Sunday evening, Renner said.
A memorial service for both students was held on campus Sunday night, drawing some 1,100 people, Renner said. School had been back in session for the last week.
Otai a sophomore from Kenya, was a licensed pilot who flew the small plane to gain flight hours, Renner said. Several of his friends said Otai planned to return to Kenya as a Missionary.
According to Hope College’s website, Otai was a captain on his Hope College intramural soccer team, according to the Hope College Web site.
Karen Patterson, editor of the student newspaper, the Anchor, said Biagioni, a junior, was a political science major and a national news editor.
“I know people tend to be immortalized after they die,” Patterson said. “Emma was kind, sweet, full of energy.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Story compliled from various sources: www.woodtv.com, www.mlive.com, www.wwmt.com
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