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Wreckage of New York couple’s plane found, Jamaican officials say

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Jamaican officials believe they have found the wreckage of a small plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Friday after its pilot, a well-known New York real-estate magnate, apparently lost consciousness at the helm of the aircraft.

A rescue crew from the Jamaican Defense Force photographed what it said was a debris field roughly 20 miles off Port Antonio, according to the Jamaican Information Service.

The wreckage is believed to be that of a plane carrying Larry and Jane Glazer, both 68, who took off from Rochester, N.Y., on Friday morning.

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The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, a couple of hours before it was scheduled to land in Naples, Fla., and wandered hundreds of miles off course, FAA officials said on Friday.

Two American F-15 jets were trailing the plane as it coasted over the Atlantic, but had gone back to base to refuel when the plane crashed at about 2:15 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Larry Glazer was the chief executive of Rochester-based real estate developer Buckingham Properties. His son told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that his parents were the only two people aboard the plane.

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Rescue teams from the Jamaican Defense Force and the U.S. Coast Guard were working to recover the wreckage Saturday morning.

The fighter jets that were escorting the plane reported seeing fog and frost on the windows of the aircraft, and believed the pilot was slumped over and unconscious at the controls, possibly caused by lack of oxygen.

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT and @cmaiduc for breaking news

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