Florida Family Among Victims Of Plane Crash In Costa Rica

The burnt wreckage of a Nature Air plane is seen in a wooded area in Corozalito de Nandayure, near Punta Islita, Guanacaste province, Costa Rica, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018. Costa Rican investigators are looking into what caused the charter aircraft to crash Sunday shortly after takeoff, killing several, including families from New York and Florida. (AP Photo/Berny Araya)

BELLEAIR, Fla. (AP) — A Florida family has been identified among the victims of a charter aircraft crash in Costa Rica.

Rabbi Jacob Luski of Congregation B’nai Israel in St. Petersburg said Monday that relatives had informed him of the deaths of Mitchell and Leslie Weiss and their two children, 19-year-old Hannah and 16-year-old Ari.

The Weiss family lived in Belleair, along the Gulf of Mexico.

Mitchell Weiss was a radiologist, and Leslie Weiss was a pediatrician. Both had practiced at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater for over a decade. Hospital President Kris Hoce said in a statement that “their lives and medical skills have touched so many,” and their colleagues were grieving Monday.

The Weiss family members were among 10 U.S. citizens and two Costa Rican crewmembers who died Sunday when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff.