Law Student Who Died in Plane Crash Was Headed to Nephew's Party
Updated: A second-year student at Florida Coastal law school in Jacksonville has been identified as among 50 people killed in a plane crash in Buffalo, N.Y.
The law student is Ellyce Kausner, the Buffalo News reports.
Kausner was traveling to Buffalo so she could be the date for her 4-year-old nephew at his school Valentine’s party, the law student’s sister, Laura Kausner, told Good Morning America. Laura Kausner and her brother, Chris, said the law student was vibrant and fun to be around, ABC News reports.
“Ellie had a flair for the dramatic,” Chris Kausner told ABC. “She was very exciting to be around, and if she was going to go out, she would want her picture on national TV,” Chris Kausner said.
Chris Kausner told CNN affiliate WIVB that it was difficult to break news of his sister’s death to his parents.
“My parents are on vacation in Florida, and I had to call down there and tell my father what was going on,” Chris Kausner told the TV station.
The Continental plane flying to Buffalo from Newark, N.J., crashed Thursday night into a house about five miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the New York Times reports. The flight’s 44 passengers and five crew members died along with one person in the house struck by the plane, the Buffalo News reports in a separate story.
Just after the crash, air traffic controllers began asking other pilots about icy conditions at Buffalo, indicating ice may be a suspected cause of the accident, the Buffalo News reports in a separate story.
Updated at 7:34 a.m. to reflect increased death count and to add a Buffalo News story on a possible cause for the crash. Updated at 10:20 a.m. to include information about the nephew’s Valentine’s party.
