NORFOLK, Va. — A person died after a hang glider crash in the Southern Shores area of Dare County Wednesday morning.
The aircraft was an ultralight glider carrying two people, according to Sheila Kane, the town clerk for Southern Shores.
She said the plane malfunctioned around 10 a.m. and landed in the ocean.
One passenger was quickly rescued. The other's body was recovered after an hours-long search.
The Coast Guard, Southern Shores Fire and Southern Shores Ocean Rescue, Duck Fire and Rescue, and two of the beach nourishment survey boats were part of the search.
Millie Blair, whose vacationing in the Outer Banks, said she saw the whole thing.
"I was sitting there and all of a sudden it was like a ‘psshh,’ almost like a rocket sound going off. I immediately looked up and kind of out in a caddy-corner direction I saw it fall. I didn’t see the person or persons, whatever it may be, but it was loud, and I looked up and it was just unbelievable," she said.
Blair said the glider crashed near 120 Ocean Boulevard, not too far out in the water.
Multiple people 13News Now spoke to on the fairly crowded beach said they watched boats and helicopters search for the second person all afternoon.
Blair said she's sad to hear the outcome.
"Just pray for those people and the families involved," she said.
