Three alumni of Swarthmore College are among six people who died Saturday when a private plane crashed in New York near the Massachusetts border, school officials said Monday.
The crash happened just after noon Saturday when the Mitsubishi MU-2B, a small plane that can carry up to 12 passengers, went down in a field in Copake and killed everyone on board, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The plane had taken off from Westchester County Airport, just outside New York City, and was supposed to land at Columbia County Airport.
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The private college in Delaware County said Monday the victims included 2022 Swarthmore graduate Jared Groff and his girlfriend, Alexia Couyutas Duarte, who graduated in 2023. Jared's father, Michael Groff, a 1988 Swarthmore graduate, and his wife, Joy Saini, also were killed in the crash along with their daughter, Karenna Groff, and her boyfriend, James Santero, authorities said.
"In the face of such devastating news, we recognize and celebrate all that these extraordinary individuals meant to us, as well as support those who knew, mentored, and loved them," Swarthmore College President Val Smith and Vice President for Student Affairs Stephanie Ives said in a joint statement.
The family of physicians and former student-athletes were traveling to the Catskills over the weekend to celebrate a birthday and the Passover holiday.
Before the crash, the pilot of the plane had contacted air traffic control at Columbia County Airport to relay that he had missed an initial landing approach and needed a revised plan, NTSB officials said at a briefing Sunday. Air traffic controllers sent three alerts to the pilot about the plane's altitude being too low before the aircraft went down. The pilot did not respond to those alerts and did not put out a distress call, the Associated Press reported.
After reviewing video of the final seconds of the flight, NTSB officials said the plane appeared to be intact when it went down.
Michael Groff, who was the pilot according to the New York Times, was a neurosurgeon and executive medical director of neuroscience at Rochester Regional Health. His wife, Joy, was a pelvic surgeon who founded a practice in Boston.
Jared Groff graduated with a B.A. in economics and political science and had most recently been working as a paralegal with plans to attend law school in the fall. He played on the men's basketball team all four years at Swarthmore and helped them reach the NCAA Division III national championship game for the first time in 2019.
Alexia Couyutas Duarte graduated from Swarthmore with a B.A. in economics and political science. She also had been working as a paralegal and was on track to attend Harvard Law School in the fall.
Karenna Groff was a former soccer player at MIT who was named the NCAA Woman of the Year in 2022. James Santero also graduated from MIT and had played lacrosse for the school.
The NTSB said the cause of the crash remains under investigation. Ages of the victims were not available.
Swarthmore officials said the college plans to honor the victims at a later date.
"We will celebrate their lives when and in ways that their families feel are most meaningful," the college said. "While it is too soon to have details, we will share any public plans as they become available."