The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into what caused a small plane to make an emergency landing on a beach in Venice Sunday, killing a soldier stationed in Georgia and critically injuring his young daughter.

According to officials, the pilot of the 1972 Piper Cherokee, 57-year-old Karl Kokomoor of Englewood, reported that the plane was in distress around 2:45 p.m. and could not make it back to the airport. He attempted to land on the beach.

Ommy Irizarry, 36, and his daughter, 9-year-old Oceana, were hit while walking on the beach. Ommy was killed, and Izarry was badly injured. She remains in critical condition at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Ommy Irizarry was an Army sergeant first class and lived with his family on base at Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia, according to a family friend. The family was vacationing in Florida.

Minutes after Kokomoor radioed in that he couldn't return to the airport, the plane made its hard landing into the beach - right where the family was walking. Kokomoor and his passenger, 60-year-old David Theen, were not injured.

According to witnesses, no one heard the plane coming in and it's likely the family never saw it coming. 

"I really didn't hear anything, actually," said witness Zach Arceneaux. "Seemed to be rather quiet. What I suspect is that the motor went out and they (victims) couldn't hear it coming. They ran out of fuel or something along those lines and just hit them."

NTSB officials will try to determine what, if any, controls the pilot had during the landing. Also, the agency will try to determine whether there was anywhere else Kokomoor could have landed.

The plane meanwhile has been towed off the beach to a secure location where it can be inspected.