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Fatalities reported in small plane crash in Florida

Posted at 9:15 AM, Dec 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-25 07:23:14-05

The Polk County, Florida Sheriff's Office and Polk County Fire Rescue are on the scene of a deadly twin-engine plane crash at the Bartow Airbase.

The crash occurred at the end of a runway near Ben Durrance Road in Bartow.

There are several deaths, Polk County sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Horstman said in a release. Polk County Fire Rescue said on the scene that four people died. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that he personally knew one of the victims. Right now, the Sheriff's office is not releasing the names of the victims or information about the plane.

According to the Polk County Sheriff plane attempted to take off close to 7:15 A.M. Sheriff Judd said he reviewed video and, "no one should have taken off from this airport at 7:15 A.M." He went on to say the airport was saturated with fog.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office is conducting a death investigation. The NTSB will do the crash investigation.