POTSDAM -- Clarkson University President Tony Collins offered words of solace to students over the weekend after it was learned that two university students were killed in a small plane crash in Lake Placid Saturday.

Collins identified the two as physical therapy graduate students Kathleen Kafka, Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Reed Phillips, Midland, Michigan, who were passengers on the plane piloted by Kafka’s father Fred Kafka of Vienna, West Virginia, who was also killed in the accident.

“We are deeply saddened to share with you the loss of two students who perished on Saturday morning in a small plane crash near Lake Placid, New York,” Collins said in a message sent to students.

“Our condolences go out to their family, friends, faculty and classmates,” he said.

Collins said that as soon as arrangements and services are confirmed, that information would be shared with the community.

He also advised that Counseling Center staff are available for anyone who wishes to express their grief.

State police report that the plane crashed shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday off River Road in the Town of North Elba near the Lake Placid airport. The Lake Placid Police Department, Saranac Lake Fire Department and state police responded to the scene, and investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were enroute.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation as of press time.