Maryland law enforcement officials investigated a plane crash Tuesday that left a person dead in Royal Oak, near Easton.

Maryland State Police responded to a twin-engine Cessna plane crash at 9:38 a.m. in the Tred Avon River near the 6800 block of Travelers Rest Circle. The plane took off from Tipton Airport at Fort Meade and was headed towards Easton Airport.

Witnesses called for emergency response after seeing the crash.

The pilot, identified Tuesday night as Robert Eugene Merlini, 56, of Annapolis, was pulled from the water and taken to the shore where EMS declared the person dead. Ron Snyder, a spokesman with state police, previously said “the only known person on the plane was the pilot.”

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State police said Merlini was the only person on board the plane.

The Associated Press reported that the plane is owned by the University Research Foundation, based in Greenbelt, Maryland, which operates aircraft out of the Fort Meade airport to conduct environmental testing and other research, according to its website.

“It is a tragedy,” Eric Heidhausen, the president of the University Research Foundation, told WJZ. “I don’t know who his next of kin is even though I know him.”

Heidhausen said Tuesday’s crash occurred a during ferry flight and research, and the pilot was a contractor.

“I’m accountable to the organization for the safe management of flight operations of our airplane,” Heidhausen said. “That’s on me. That’s the end of the story. I’m waiting for the NTSB on what caused all of this, make sure other pilots can learn from whatever happened today.”

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Multiple agencies responded, including Maryland Natural Resources Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office and Talbot County Fire/EMS, which joined state police at the scene.

The cause of the crash was unknown Tuesday afternoon.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation, while the Federal Aviation Administration have also been notified.

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Maryland state troopers from the underwater recovery team and investigators from the Criminal Enforcement Division will assist in the investigation.

David Abrams, from the Maryland Department of the Environment, told WJZ that the crash marks “a really sad day for the aviation community, but also the scientific community.”

“This aircraft is used for very important scientific work to determine when we’re having heat waves like this to ascertain all the data and all the factors that go into it and make decisions about public policy and public health,” Abrams told WJZ.