Fatal wreck: Crews at mountain peak site in the Oquirrhs
By Nate Carlisle
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 04/25/2009 03:02:40 PM MDT
Stockton » Three unidentified male victims are confirmed dead in the crash of a Montana firefighting airplane in Tooele County today, said Tooele County Sheriff Frank Park.
Recovery workers remain at the scene of the 150-yard long crash site about 3 p.m., which sits on an unnamed peak in the Oquirrh Mountains between Stockton and Tooele.
Park said a Tooele County resident reported hearing a large aircraft overhead and then what sounded like "two semis crashing head on."
Park said the plane left at an unknown time from Missoula, Mont., and was heading for Alamogordo, N.M., at the time of the crash.
The flight was designed to relocate the plane to New Mexico, Park said. The plane was a fire-retardant dropping aircraft owned by Neptune Aviation of Missoula, Mont., Park said.
No identities of the victims were given pending notification of kin, Park said.
When the search began, "clouds were completely encompassing the area. You couldn't see anything," Park said.
About 1 p.m. Saturday, clouds lifted and search crews spotted the P2V Neptune two-engine propeller plane.
