Plane crash on Block Island leaves 1 dead, 2 hospitalized

NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. — One person is dead and two hospitalized after a plane crash on Block Island Wednesday afternoon.

All three passengers on board were taken to Block Island Medical Center, however, a 77-year-old man died on the way. The other two passengers were then flown to Rhode Island Hospital and are expected to survive.

The flight was on route to Block Island from Albany, New York 

The plane attempted to land multiple times before the crash, but during its third attempt, police say it “essentially ran out of runway.”

An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will arrive on the island Thursday to begin an investigation into the crash.

This is the second plane crash on Block Island since 1995.

On August 26, 1995, a Cessna 185 seaplane (tail number N4944E) departed from East Hampton, Long Island, New York, en route to Block Island. The aircraft, equipped for water landings, was carrying four people: a 52-year-old pilot and three passengers in their 20s.

Shortly after 1 p.m., the plane arrived over Block Island and attempted a water landing at Old Harbor Beach. It touched down approximately 400 feet from shore and began taxiing toward land. Roughly 100 feet into the landing, the pilot aborted due to the presence of rocks and swimmers. The aircraft briefly leveled off at an altitude of about 15 feet and continued inland, climbing to avoid a building and nearby power lines.

Although the plane cleared the first set of wires, it descended and struck a second set, causing it to crash into a restaurant known as G.R. Sharkey’s, which was attached to a gas station. One of the pontoons struck a car parked at the pumps, fatally injuring a 79-year-old woman inside. The plane then slammed into the building and exploded into flames.

The crash killed the woman and three of the plane’s occupants at the scene. The lone surviving passenger managed to escape the wreckage but later died from his injuries at Rhode Island Hospital.