6 feared dead after plane crashes in Ariz. mountains
Posted by under happy | Permalink | | Leave A Comment | No Comments
A small aircraft carrying six people, including three children, slammed into the rugged peaks of the Superstition Mountain in Arizona. All aboard are believed to be dead. NBC’s Jeff Rossen has more details.
By Msnbc.com staff, NBC News and The Associated Press
?
Updated at 8:08 a.m. ET
A small plane carrying three adults and three children crashed in flames in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix Wednesday night, leaving one child confirmed dead and no sign of survivors, authorities said.
Preliminary reports indicate the twin-engine plane flew from Safford to Mesa’s Falcon Field to pick up three children for the Thanksgiving holiday and was headed back to Safford in southeastern Arizona, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said.
A pilot, a mechanic and another adult were also on board, Babeu said. The children reportedly were between the ages of 5 and 9.
?
?
“It does not look promising,” Babeu said at a news conference. “The fuselage is stuck down into some of the crevices of this rough terrain, and we’re doing our best at this point in the darkness. This is not a flat area, this is jagged peaks, almost like a cliff-type rugged terrain.”
Tim Hacker / AP
A helicopter searchlight shines over the crash scene in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains on Wednesday.
Authorities?received calls reporting a mushroom-like explosion near the peak of a mountain, 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix, at about 6:30 p.m. MST (8:30 p.m. ET).
Some witnesses told Phoenix-area television stations they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains. The elevation is about 5,000 feet at the Superstition Mountains’ highest point.
‘All of a sudden, it hit’
A joint report by NBC station KPNX and the Arizona Republic quoted Carla Machajewski, of Apache Junction, as saying that she saw two small planes flying around the mountains.
“The one little plane kept going straight and the other one turned and came back and disappeared for a minute. All of a sudden, it hit,” she added.
The region near Lost Dutchman State Park and the Superstition Wilderness is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings and cactus. Treasure hunters who frequent the area have been looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman mine for more than a century.
Video showed several fires burning on the mountainside, where heavy brush is common.
Sheriff’s spokesman Elias Johnson said the body of one child was recovered late Wednesday from the crash scene.
Rescue personnel were using infrared devices to search for bodies, but had not been able to detect any sign of movement, according to Johnson.
Flames could still be seen hours after the crash.
Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site in rugged terrain reported finding two debris fields on fire, suggesting that the plane broke apart on impact.
new gmail oakland general strike oakland general strike houshmandzadeh houshmandzadeh bieber baby justin beiber