Fatal plane crash: NTSB working to retrieve aircraft from Lake O

March 10-- Mar. 10--The National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday continued to investigate the cause of the plane crash into Lake Okeechobee that killed five passengers, including four members of a South Florida law firm.

An NTSB spokesman said Sunday that a federal investigator arrived at the scene late Saturday. The agency expects to release a preliminary report within two weeks. That document will lay out basic details such as the plane's owner.

It could take a year or longer for investigators to determine the official cause of the crash.

"We're just starting the process of figuring out what happened," NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss said.

One of the first tasks was pulling the plane out of Lake Okeechobee. The NTSB hired a contractor to extract the aircraft, Weiss said, adding that he was not aware if the effort had been successful.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Saturday identified the plane crash victims as Eduardo Mulet, 45, of West Palm Beach, Matthew Fiorello, 36, of Palm Beach Gardens, Heather Bridwell, 43, of Jupiter, Edwin Mortell III, 54, of Stuart, and Eric Peterson, 73, of Lighthouse Point. Three of the five victims were Palm Beach County residents. All but Mulet worked at the Peterson Bernard law firm. Mulet held a pilot's license and is believed to have been flying the aircraft.

The pilot and four attorneys were returning to North Palm Beach County Airport west of Palm Beach Gardens from Tampa International Airport, relatives of the passengers told the Post on Saturday. They had taken a quick business day trip to pitch their services to insurance executives on Florida's west coast.

The wife of Matthew Fiorello said her husband texted her from midair moments before the crash to let her know there was a problem on board, but did not elaborate.

"He told me he loved me. He told me he loved the girls," Rachel Backoff Fiorello recalled Saturday. "He told me he couldn't talk right now because there was an issue on the plane and they were being diverted and trying to land."

The plane crashed in shallow waters about 400 yards offshore in Lake Okeechobee just north of the Palm Beach County Glades Airport around 3:30 p.m. Friday.

A PBSO spokeswoman said Sunday she could not say whether Pahokee airport officials made a 911 call or indicated whether there had been a medical emergency on the plane causing it to be diverted to the airfield near the southeast corner of Lake Okeechobee.

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