Seven bodies were recovered from the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the Cascade Mountains, and authorities said the other three people aboard were also believed dead.
Searchers who found the wreckage on Monday night were able to verify by serial number that it was the plane carrying nine skydivers and a pilot that went missing a day earlier, said Tina Wilson, a Yakima Valley Emergency Management spokeswoman.
The names of those aboard were not released. Jim Hall, director of Yakima Valley Emergency Management, said none appeared to have survived, and that their families were notified.
Seven people on board "have been found deceased," Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin said in a statement. Recovery efforts were suspended for the night but were to resume yesterday.
The Cessna 208 Grand Caravan left Star, Idaho, near Boise, on Sunday evening en route to Shelton, Washington, northwest of Olympia. The plane was returning from a skydiving meet.
Members of the Tacoma Mountain Rescue Team following the smell of fuel found the wreckage in the rugged mountains, Wilson said. The tail section was separated from the rest of the plane and was not immediately located, she said.
The National Transportation Safety Board was to begin an investigation yesterday.
One man at a Red Cross center at White Pass said his 30-year-old son was aboard the plane. He displayed a family photo of the young man skydiving with a brother and sister.
"He worked hard and he played hard - we just want to find him," said the father, who did not give his name.
Elaine Harvey, co-owner of the skydiving company Skydive Snohomish, told The Seattle Times that nine of the 10 aboard were either employees of her business or else licensed skydivers who considered Snohomish their "home drop zone."
Source: China Daily/agencies
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