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Three More Bodies Recovered After Lake CDA Airplane Crash

Courtesy of Idaho Department of Lands

Divers have recovered three more bodies from Sunday’s mid-air collision and crash into Lake Coeur d’Alene.

That means six of the eight people believed to have killed are now accounted for, says Kootenai County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Ryan Higgins.

“The plan today is to have the sonar team go out. They’re meeting with NTSB right now to go over what they’ve done so far. They’re going to go out today and find a couple more spots of interest and focus on those locations to hopefully find the other two victims," Higgins said.

The NTSB to which he referred is the National Transportation Safety Board. He says its agents plan to begin cataloguing pieces of the wreckage found on the surface of the lake soon after the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration also has representatives in Coeur d’Alene to help with the investigation.

Higgins says they’re working with local authorities to review more underwater video to pinpoint the location of the second plane.

“The entire crash scene, from debris field to debris field, is about 500 yards in perimeter, in a circle. But the main bodies are within a couple hundred yards of each other. They’re fairly close together," he said.

The names of the victims that have been recovered haven’t yet been formally released.

Higgins says the sheriff’s office hopes a salvage company can begin the work of lifting airplane wreckage from the bottom by the end of the week.

 

 

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