Plane registered to former baseball player Roy Halladay crashes in the Gulf of Mexico

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By BNO NEWS

A plane registered to Roy Halladay, a former baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies, has crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off Florida, local officials say. It’s unknown whether Halladay was on board.

The incident happened at about 12:06 p.m. ET on Tuesday when deputies responded to a report of a small aircraft that had gone down in the water north of Bailey’s Bluff in Holiday, or about 10 miles west of St. Petersburg.

“One death is confirmed at this time,” said Kevin Doll, a spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. He said deputies from the Marine Unit and the Swiftwater Response Team were searching for a second person.

The plane involved in the crash is an ICON A5 aircraft, which is capable of carrying a pilot and one passenger.

Federal records show that the aircraft is owned by Roy Halladay, but it was not immediately confirmed who was on board at the time of the crash. “Next of kin is still being notified,” Doll said.

A press conference will take place at 4:30 p.m.

There was no immediate word on the cause of Tuesday’s accident. A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said both they and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate.

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