Two ultra-Orthodox Jews from Cleveland, Ohio, USA, crashed tonight in a single-engine light plane accident on their way to the airport, about one kilometer from the Westchester County Airport in White Plains.
The plane, a Beechcraft Bonanza, took off from New York’s JFK airport shortly before 5 p.m. local time.
He was on his way to Ohio, about half an hour after takeoff, at 17:25, the pilot reported low oil pressure and then an engine failure.
After a few minutes the engines stopped and the plane crashed into trees about a kilometer from the airport.
the pilot Baruch Taub AH and the passenger Benjamin Hefetz AH – both were killed.
Just before the crash, Hefetz wrote a chilling last message to his family: “We lost engines. I love all of you and the children, forgive me for everything I have done, say Psalms and ask the community to pray”, he left behind his wife Samdar and their seven children.
According to the report in Crown Heights News, the two encountered problems with their single-engine plane around 5:25 PM in Westchester County, and at 11:00 PM the plane was found crushed among tree debris.
The pilot managed to announce before the crash that there was a serious engine failure.
Baruch Taub, Owner of a technology company, was the pilot of the light plane. Benjamin Hefetz, A technology entrepreneur and one of the biggest benefactors in the US to Torah and Charity institutions, flew by his side.
The deceased were both well-known and popular figures in the Cleveland community. Baruch Taub used to set times for the Torah and one of the biggest charity donors. One of his friends said that “in addition to donations, he always gave the charity collectors food and drink, he was loved by everyone who knew him, he had a good name, he was very honest, everyone loved him”.
And since soon and immediately the vocation will be fulfilled, “the sun dwellers in the dust” and they are among them.
The plane they traveled on
The last messages Hefetz sent to his wife
Photos of the two by
the flight path
