Authorities will not release the names of the three victims of Thursday’s light airplane crash on St. Croix until they are able to positively identify the remains using dental records, Police Information Officer Melody Rames said Friday.

The privately owned, single-engine Cessna 177 crashed shortly after taking off from Henry E. Rohlsen Airport. Witnesses said the plane appeared to be in trouble almost immediately after takeoff, and people near the crash site described a high-pitched shrieking sound moments before the plane crashed into a small field on East Airport Road, about a half mile south of the Queen Mary Highway.

Representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the crash but have released no statement yet.

The plane was reported to be bound for St. Thomas so that one of the two passengers could make a connection with a Delta Airlines flight.

Though officials know who was supposed to be on the plane, forensic detectives said a positive identification can only be made through dental records.

Representatives of the V.I. Police Department and the Red Cross met with the families of the people believed to have been in the plane during the crash. They were notified that their loved ones may have been on the plane. But the police will not release the names until that has been confirmed.

"There have been instances where persons believed to be on downed planes or in other such disaster were incorrectly identified," Rames said in a statement Friday. "Because of the condition of the bodies, which were burned beyond any visual recognition, the VIPD maintains it will rely only on a positive identification through dental records."

Rames said Friday she did not know how long the process was likely to take. Families of the presumed victims can provide dental records, but the forensic specialist the police usually use in such cases has not returned contact as of Friday afternoon, Rames said.