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Wreckage found, but 2 still missing after plane crashes near New Orleans airport

NEW ORLEANS -- The New Orleans Fire Department says divers have found the wreckage of a small plane that crashed into the huge lake that forms New Orleans’ northern shore, but two men remain missing.

Capt. Edwin Holmes says there should be more information about them on Monday, when the plane will be pulled back out of Lake Pontchartrain.

He says a professional diver helped find the wreckage Sunday afternoon, about 1,000 feet west of the runway it was heading for when it crashed around 9 p.m. Friday.

New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Dawne Massey says in a statement early Sunday that department officials responded Saturday to a report that a Cessna aircraft carrying three people had crashed into Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans Lakefront Airport.

The airport is located about 10 miles northeast of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.

According to CBS affiliate WWL-TV​, the plane was on a training flight.

New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Dawne Massey says one female passenger was picked up by a private yacht and transported to Ochsner Hospital. 

Her medical condition was not immediately known.

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