Man killed, daughter injured as plane crash lands on Florida beach

A Georgia man was killed and his daughter severely injured when a plane crash-landed as they walked on a Florida beach as part of a family vacation near Venice, Florida.

The Herald Tribune reports that it is not entirely clear if the plane itself struck the pair, or if they were hit by debris from the plane that was knocked loose as it crashed into the sand.

The beach where the incident took place is a popular location to collect shells and shark teeth. It is located south of the Venice Municipal Airport from which the flight in question took off.

The victims were 36-year-old Ommy Irizarry, who died at the scene, and his nine-year-old daughter Oceana. Oceana's wounds were so severe that she had to be flown by helicopter to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. She is said to be in critical condition.

A woman near the site of the crash, who has not been identified, also needed medical attention at an area hospital after going into cardiac arrest shortly after witnessing the traumatic event.

The pilot and passenger in the 1972 Piper Cherokee were uninjured. In the crash, a wheel came off the plane, the propeller was broken, and a wing was crumpled.

The pilot was 57-year-old Karl Kokomoor and 60-year-old David Theen. Kokomoor was trying to land the plane after making a distress call to a local airport at around 2:45 p.m. July 27. In the call, Kokomoor said he was unsure he would be able to fly back to the airport from which he took off. He said that he would instead try to land on the hard sand of a beach.

Investigators from the federal government's National Transportation Safety Board are said to be on their way to the scene.