Funerals Wednesday for Niagara men killed last week in plane crash

Funerals will be held Wednesday in St. Catharines for two young Niagara Region men who died in a plane crash in Pennsylvania last week.

Friends and family of Corey Mijac, 18, will be gathering Wednesday morning for a service.

Ben Jeffries, 19, was also killed in the plane crash a celebration of his life will be held this afternoon.

Rifat Tawfig, 25, of Niagara Falls was also killed in the crash. A mosque is also planning a service today for Tawfig.

The single-engine Piper Warrior aircraft left Richmond, Va., and went missing Sunday Oct. 16. The wreckage was located the next day. The plane was headed for Niagara District Airport, the home base of the flying club.

According to St. Catharines Flying Club spokesman Conrad Hatcher, Mijac and Jeffries were students at the club, and nearly certified as pilots themselves.

He said the three young men had been on a sort of field trip in South Carolina.

The flight down there and back "wasn't part of any sort of curriculum," Hatcher said, but was a social and educational outing, several of which the club has organized in the past. "It's like a little adventure," Hatcher said.

Hatcher told CBC News there was another plane flying back on the same route as the one that crashed, but 20 minutes ahead. That plane made it home safely.

Contact lost soon after takeoff

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it lost contact with the plane carrying Tawfiq, Mijac, and Jeffries shortly after takeoff.

According to a statement from the FAA, it "lost radar contact near Potter County, Pa., with a Piper PA-28 that was en route from Richmond International Airport to St. Catharines/Niagara District Airport," on Sunday at 6:58 p.m.

The statement said the FAA notified air traffic facilities, pilots and airports about the missing aircraft, and that local authorities were searching for it.

The FAA sent an updated statement Oct. 17 that said a plane had been found near Liberty, Penn.