Florida Keys

Jupiter Man Killed in Plane Crash off Marathon: Deputies

A former division chief with the Riviera Beach Fire Department whose family says he was in the Florida Keys for lobster season died in a plane crash offshore of Marathon early Monday, deputies say.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office says 53-year-old Edward Elgin, of Jupiter, was the only occupant on a 1973 single engine Piper aircraft, tail number N54380, when it went down shortly after midnight.

Deputies received a call from a Marathon man who said he heard a plane crash off the gulf side of Marathon.

The man told deputies he got on his boat to investigate, and spotted plane debris and Elgin's body about a mile offshore of 63rd Street.

Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials found the fully submerged plane. The FAA will be investigating.

FWC officials said the plane left from Key West and was headed to West Palm Beach when it crashed.

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