Maine State Police say the wreckage of a small plane that crashed near the Houlton International Airport was found Thursday morning and the pilot is presumed dead.

The plane, a twin-engine Piper was flying from Labrador, Canada and was due to land at the Houlton airport around 1 a.m. for a customs check. Customs officials reported hearing a plane approach the airport around 2 a.m., then what sounded like an engine failing followed by a loud crash. It was foggy at the time.

A ground and air search was launched immediately with coordination from several agencies, including Houlton Police, State Police, Aroostook County Sheriff's deputies, Customs & Border Patrol, Maine Forest Service and New Brunswick RCMP.

State Police spokesman Steve McCausland said that debris from the plane was located in a small man-made pond off the White Settlement Road in Houlton not far from the airport shortly before 9 a.m. The plane appeared to have clipped some trees and then  flipped over into the pond. All that was visible was one wheel of the aircraft.

Maine State Police
Maine State Police
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The pilot is presumed dead and he was the only one on board, McCausland said. The pond was being drained in order for first responders to get to the wreckage to recover the body.

Further info today will come from Houlton Police, McCausland said.

The plane is registered to a Florida company called Growl Inc, the CBC reports. It had flown from the U.K. through Greenland and stopped for fuel in Goose Bay, Labrador at about 10 p.m. Wednesday.

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