PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Authorities pulled the body of a 40-year-old woman from water near a submerged twin-engine Beechcraft plane that plunged into a Redwood Shores lagoon Thursday morning, officials said.
Redwood City Battalion Chief Dave Pucci said it's believed one or two other people had been aboard the plane and dive crews are searching in the lagoon for them.
The plane left the San Carlos Airport at 11:50 a.m. for San Martin and went down less than 30 seconds later, Pucci said.
Michael Phelan, who works in the Oracle complex next to the lagoon, said he was walking outside when the plane crashed. "First I heard it, the engine sounded very loud and very bad," he said. "You can see then that something was wrong."
Phelan said he saw the plane make a hard right turn and then drop nose down.
He expected to hear an explosion, Phelan said. "Instead, I saw a big mist" in the water.
Phelan said he pulled out his cell phone to alert authorities, but immediately heard sirens. Firefighters from the Redwood City and San Carlos-Belmont fire departments responded.
"It was very disturbing," Phelan said. "I never saw anything like it."
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford told the Associated Press the agency is aware of the crash and sending investigators.
Rod Cardinale, a paralegal at Grathwohl, Rauch and Cohen, said he was working when he heard a "boom." He went outside to see what had happened and saw the plane in the lagoon near the Hotel Sofitel.
"I just saw the airplane in the water upside-down with one of the wings sticking out of the water," he said.
Cardinale said a bunch of boaters made their way over to the plane and some dove into the water to try to help the occupants.
Bay Area News Group reporter Joshua Melvin and Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
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