Three people have been killed after a small plane plunged into a Nebraska river, leaving no survivors.

U.S. aviation officials have taken over an investigation into the tragedy after the small craft crash landed in the Platte River, south of Fremont, on Friday night.

The plane was traveling along the river when it crashed into the water at 8.15pm local time. Rescue teams, using airboats, drones and a police helicopter, have been scouring the wreckage located about 37 miles (59.5 kilometers) west of Omaha, but all three passengers on board were killed in the incident.

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The authorities are contacting the victim’s next of kin and investigations into the cause of the deadly crash are ongoing.

In a statement, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office said: “A small plane was traveling along the Platte River south of Fremont when it crashed into the river.

“The three occupants of the plane have been recovered and are confirmed deceased. Those identities will not be released at this time pending next of kin notification.

“The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation at this point.”

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Locals have been asked to avoid the area while emergency crews work at the scene.

The crash comes after a family of five and pilot were killed when a sightseeing helicopter crashed into New York’s Hudson River earlier this month.

Divers were last week still salvaging key pieces of wreckage from the Bell 206 LongRanger, which crumbled midair and plunged upside-down into the water on 10 April.

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Agustin Escobar, 49, CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, global commercialization manager at Siemens Energy, and their children Agustín, 10, Mercè, 8 and Víctor, 4, all perished in the accident. The helicopter pilot was named on Friday as Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran.

Separately, a family of six was killed last weekend when their plane crashed near Copake, New York, while traveling to the Catskills for a birthday and Passover celebration.

The twin-engine plane they were traveling in crashed into a muddy field just ten miles from their destination, killing two young couples and their parents, Dr. Michael Groff and Dr. Joy Saini — each celebrated surgeons.

Associated Press contributed to this report

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The Nebraska Supreme Court released a ruling on Friday, upholding the Legislature’s constitutional authority to adjust parole eligibility provisions as part as a criminal justice reform law passed in 2023.

LB 50 took effect on Sept. 2, 2023, with the intent to increase parole eligibility to address prison overcrowding. According to the Nebraska Examiner, the law extended parole eligibility for people who meet the following criteria:

• For someone serving a maximum term of 20 years or less, two years prior to a person’s mandatory discharge date.
• For someone serving a maximum term of more than 20 years, when the person has served 80% of the time until the sentence’s mandatory discharge date.

It also allows someone who is at least 75 years old and who has served at least 15 years of their sentence to apply for “geriatric parole”.

Anyone serving a Class I, IA or IB felony or for a sex-related offense is ineligible, as are those serving life imprisonment, the Nebraska Examiner said. As a condition of geriatric parole, the person would need to wear an electronic monitoring device for at least 17 months.

However despite it becoming law, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services refused to implement the parole provisions on the advice of Attorney General Mike Hilgers. He argued that applying the changes retroactively was unconstitutional and that it was the same as changing someone’s sentence, which only the Board of Pardons can do.

Hilgers filed a lawsuit to block the law, and a lower court sided with him in March 2024. This led to the appeal.

In an unsigned 37-page ruling, the Nebraska Supreme Court overturned the lower court ruling, saying the law is constitutional and the Legislature has the power to adjust parole eligibility. They stated that parole is not the same as a sentence reduction or commutation.

“The retroactive application of L.B. 50’s new parole eligibility provisions does not result in an unconstitutional sentence commutation, and it was plain error to declare otherwise. We therefore reverse the judgment of the district court,” the ruling stated.

ACLU of Nebraska Staff Attorney Jane Seu issued a statement in response to the Nebraska Supreme Court ruling.

“Today, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed state senators’ authority to enact long overdue smart justice reforms,” Seu said. “The Court rejected Attorney General Hilgers’ argument that key provisions of LB 50 could not apply to people already serving a sentence. As a result, people in our prisons will be able to benefit from earlier parole eligibility as our lawmakers intended. Considering Nebraska’s ongoing prison overcrowding crisis and the value of meaningful rehabilitation, this is a win for all Nebraskans.”

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OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – At least four area were hit by severe weather Thursday night, resulting in reports of multiple tornados in northeast Nebraska and western Iowa.

Bennington and Manley in Nebraska and Randolph and Essex in Iowa were impacted by severe weather Thursday. The National Weather Service is expected to confirm in the coming days exactly what damages were the result of tornadoes.

One possible tornado was spotted near Oakland, Iowa, at about 8 p.m. Nearly an hour later, there was serious concern about a very large tornado that was passing through the Essex, Iowa, area.

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Several First Alert 6 viewers submitted photos and videos of damage to their homes and vehicles.

At about 7 p.m., tornado sirens went off in Omaha after a tornado touched down north of the city. Sirens were also going off in Bennington and Elkhorn, and people at Eppley Airfield took shelter for about 15 minutes.

As the storm passed through Colfax and Dodge counties, strong winds kicked up a dust cloud big enough to force drivers to pull off Highway 30 near Rogers and North Bend. A tornado warning was issued for Dodge County at about 6 p.m., but a tornado was not confirmed in that area.

OPPD’s peak outage number reached about 1,200 customers on Thursday night just after 9 p.m.

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