Who were Karenna Groff, Michael Groff and James Santoro? Copake, New York plane crash victims identified
Victims of the Copake, New York plane crash have been identified as Karenna Groff, Dr. Michael Groff, Joy Saini, Jared Groff, Alexia Duarte and James Santoro.
The six victims of a plane crash in upstate New York over the weekend have been identified as members of a close-knit family, including accomplished physicians and promising young student-athletes, AP reported. The group was traveling to the Catskills to celebrate a birthday and the Passover holiday when their plane went down.
Victims -
- Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player and the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year
- Dr. Michael Groff, Karenna’s father, a prominent neurosurgeon
- Dr. Joy Saini, Karenna’s mother, a respected urogynecologist
- Jared Groff, Karenna’s brother and a 2022 Swarthmore College graduate who worked as a paralegal
- Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared's partner, also a Swarthmore graduate and future Harvard Law School student
- James Santoro, Karenna’s boyfriend and a recent MIT graduate
“They were a wonderful family,” James' father, John Santoro, told AP. “The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity. We’re all personally devastated.”
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Details of the crash -
The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B went down shortly after noon on Saturday in a muddy field in Copake, New York, near the Massachusetts border.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the pilot had contacted air traffic control at Columbia County Airport after missing his initial approach and was attempting to coordinate a new one. During this time, controllers issued a low-altitude alert three times, but received no response and no distress call.
Investigators have obtained video footage of the aircraft’s final moments, which “appears to show that the aircraft was intact and crashed at a high rate of descent into the ground,” NTSB official Todd Inman told reporters.
The investigation is expected to last about a week on-site, with a full accident report projected to take between 12 and 24 months.
Funeral arrangements for the victims are currently underway.
“The 25 years we had with James were the best years of our lives,” John Santoro told AP, “and the joy and love he brought us will be enough to last a lifetime.”
(Witn inputs from AP)
