THOMASVILLE — Federal investigators confirmed Friday that three people died in a helicopter crash that departed from Thomasville Regional Airport on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. 

The flight, identified as a Robinson R66 helicopter, had two pilots and a passenger on board and was reported missing for over two hours, AP said.

Robert Petty, Thomasville Airport manager, said the flight arrived Wednesday in Thomasville around 6:15 p.m., got fuel and departed 30 minutes later.

“The next thing we knew was that the next morning we were contacted by the Federal Aviation Administration to find out if they had arrived here,” he said.

Search teams found the helicopter crash site Thursday afternoon in the woods of rural Jasper County.

Petty said that Flight Aware, an online tracking program, showed that the flight came in from North Florida. 

“They were headed back to the Atlanta area, and they encountered storms all the way and circumnavigated a number of those storms until they crashed somewhere just North of Macon,” he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating the crash and should release their report in two weeks, according to AP.