Story highlights
A man's body was found Saturday morning in a mangrove area near Miami
"We presume that the body found is that of Gerardo Nales," police say
Pilot tells authorities his passenger fell out at 1,800 feet
The body of a man found Saturday in a mangrove area near Miami may be that of a 42-year-old passenger who fell Thursday from a small plane, police said.
“Even though we presume that the body found is that of Gerardo Nales, investigators are pending ‘official identification’ from the Medical Examiner’s Office,” said Miami-Dade Police Department spokesman Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, in a statement.
The body was discovered at 10:30 a.m., he said.
A pilot’s mayday distress call sent rescuers scrambling to an area near Miami on Thursday to search for a passenger who reportedly fell out of a small plane.
“I have a door ajar,” said the pilot of the single-engine Piper PA-46 aircraft, “and a passenger that fell down.”
“He opened the back door and he just fall down the plane,” the pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic controllers.
The pilot said he was flying at 1,800 feet about two miles from the shore when the man fell. Authorities identified the man as Gerardo Nales, a 42-year-old man from Key Biscayne, Florida.
The search was temporarily called off Thursday night and is expected to resume Friday at daybreak.
A police spokeswoman said it was unclear whether Nales accidentally fell out of the plane or deliberately jumped.
Homicide detectives are involved, as they are in all death investigations, Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Sgt. Robin Pinkard said.
The private plane went on to land safely at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
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CNN’s Tom Watkins, Alina Machado, Mike M. Ahlers and Brian Rokus contributed to this report.