The plane was one of two performing stunts over Long Island Sound Sunday afternoon.

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) – One of two small planes that were performing stunts crashed into Long Island Sound and broke into pieces Sunday, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The two people believed to be aboard had not been found by evening.

The crash happened at about 11:30 a.m. south of Fisher’s Island, N.Y., a few miles off the coast of New London. The second plane landed safely on the island.

“They were doing some stunt flying and … according to other eyewitnesses at the scene, their engines had quit,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Thomas D’Amore. “It didn’t seem like they were able to get them restarted.”

Both planes took off from Westerly State Airport in southwest Rhode Island, officials said. The weather was good: it was mostly sunny and visibility was about 10 miles.

The Coast Guard suspended its search Sunday evening. Two Coast Guard rescue boats, a vessel that was traveling through the area and a police helicopter dispatched from Suffolk County, N.Y., took part in the search.

Searchers recovered a seat and pieces of the landing gear, the propeller and a wing.

Matthew Fleishman, a fisherman who was in the area and monitored rescue efforts over his radio, said the planes appeared to be re-enacting a dogfight before one of them hit the water.

“A few people came running over to the scene here,” he said. “There wasn’t much really to see other than some debris. There was some tires floating and stuff like that.”

Authorities did not immediately release the names of the people aboard the plane that crashed.

AP-ES-11-02-03 1908EST