New Jersey physician, 7-year-old among 5 killed in North Myrtle Beach plane crash

The five people killed in a July 2 plane crash near a North Myrtle Beach golf course ranged in age from 7 to 66 years old and all hailed from New Jersey, the Horry County Coroner’s Office announced Wednesday night.

Officials said it took several days for the names to be made public as several of the people who died had relatives in Jamaica. Those killed were:

• Sean Gardner, 7, of East Orange

• Odaycia Edwards, 17, of East Orange

• Tanique Cheu, 32, of East Orange

• Suzette Coleman-Edwards, 42, of East Orange

• Joseph Farnese, 66, of Caldwell

Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said all of them died from “traumatic and thermal injuries.” Four people died on scene. Coleman-Edwards died at the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center at 12:15 p.m., about an hour and 20 minutes after the single-engine Piper PA-32 went down in a wooded area off Pete Dye Drive.

Willard said the plane crashed one minute after taking off at 11:02 a.m. Farnese was the pilot.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident. According to a federally maintained aircraft directory, Farnese was the plane’s registered owner.

In its initial report, the FAA said a single-engine Piper PA32 crashed under “unknown circumstances” soon after departing from a Grand Strand Airport runway late morning on July 2. The incident happened around 11:30 a.m., near Dye Course at Barefoot Resort.