A Cobb County man was killed in a plane that crashed into a swamp in South Carolina Thursday.

Walker Hester, 59, of Marietta, was on board the small plane when it went down in the area of the Pee Dee River outside Columbia.

A small plane that went missing around 10:15 a.m. along the Pee Dee River, off of Highway 52 North, crashed in a swampy area, Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks said.

Brooks said the pilot was killed and that nobody else was on the plane.

Officials said a helicopter flying over the scene found some wreckage in a swampy area of the Pee Dee River and Brooks said an eyewitness saw the plane go down in the river.

Officials had trouble getting to where the wreckage was because of how remote the area is.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash.

About the Author

Keep Reading

A MARTA train passes by an area of Murphy Crossing, near the Beltline's Westside Trail, in April 2024. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: Hyosub Shin / AJC

Featured

A migrant farmworker harvests Vidalia onions at a farm in Collins, in 2011. A coalition of farmworkers, including one based in Georgia, filed suit last month in federal court arguing that cuts to H-2A wages will trigger a cut in the pay and standard of living of U.S. agricultural workers. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

Credit: Bita Honarvar