7-year-old girl walks away from fatal plane crash

[spaminator]

7-year-old girl walks away from fatal plane crash
Reuters
First posted: Saturday, January 03, 2015 12:25 AM EST | Updated: Saturday, January 03, 2015 12:33 AM EST
A small plane crashed in Kentucky late Friday, killing the pilot and three other passengers, while a seven-year-old girl apparently survived and wandered from the wreckage to find help, state police said.
The plane went down in a heavily wooded area of Lyon County, about 115 miles northwest of Nashville, Kentucky State Police said.
Authorities received a 911 call from a resident in the area who said a 7-year-old girl "had walked to his home reporting that she had been involved in a plane crash," state police said in a statement posted on Facebook.
"The juvenile was in distress and was transported to a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries," the statement said.
Rescue crews fanned out to look for the plane and discovered its wreckage in a wooded area, police said. Four people onboard were killed, among them the pilot, they said.
Police said the Memphis Center of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed a distress call from a private aircraft in the vicinity of reported crash.
The cause of the crash was under investigation. The identities of the victims were not yet known.
7-year-old girl walks away from fatal plane crash | Kentucky | World | News | To

 

[spaminator]

Girl, 7, 'remarkable' in finding help after fatal Kentucky plane crash
Kevin Murphy, Reuters
First posted: Monday, January 05, 2015 08:18 AM EST | Updated: Monday, January 05, 2015 08:39 AM EST
Authorities on Sunday praised a seven-year-old girl who ventured through dark woods for help after surviving a plane crash that killed her parents, a sister and a cousin on Friday in rural western Kentucky.
"She is one remarkable young lady," Heidi Moats, an investigator for National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference.
Moats said the NTSB arrived at the crash scene on Sunday but she had no information on the cause.
The plane crashed early Friday evening into woods near Eddyville, Ky., killing the pilot, Marty Gutzler, 47, his 46-year-old wife, Kimberly Gutzler, their nine-year-old daughter Piper Gutzler and a niece, Sierra Wilder, 14, authorities said.
The Gutzlers, from Nashville, Ill., were on their way home from Florida when Marty Gutzler reported an emergency and was directed to land at the nearest small airport, Kentucky State Police Lt. Brent White said at the news conference.
The girl, identified in a statement released to the media through a family lawyer as Sailor Gutzler, said the plane came to halt upside down and partly on fire, White said. The girl suffered broken bones in her arm, he said.
"She believed that her family was deceased but she hoped they were just sleeping," White said. The girl freed herself from the plane with one arm and walked away to seek help, wearing only shorts and a light shirt in 38-degree temperatures, he said.
"She navigated downed trees, she navigated briars and bushes," White said. She walked for an estimated 15 to 20 minutes on the dark and misty night until she saw lights coming from the home of Larry Wilkins, White said.
After she arrived at his door, Wilkins called 911. Police, including White, arrived within minutes and the girl was taken to a hospital, White said. White said the girl was distraught and shook up but able to describe the crash and where the plane was located.
"I was literally struck by how calm she was," White said.
The girl was treated and released on Saturday from a hospital, White said. She will be an important witness as the NTSB investigates how and why the crash occurred, Moats said. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating.
The plane, a Piper PA-34-200T, described by police as a fixed-wing multiple-engine aircraft, had departed Key West, Fla., on Friday and stopped in Tallahassee, Fla., en route to Mt. Vernon, Ill., police said.
A Facebook photo of Marty Gutzler and his wife, Kimberly Gutzler. The couple, their nine-year-old daughter Piper Gutzler and 14-year-old neice Sierra Wilder were killed in a plane crash Friday. The couple's seven year old daughter survived. (Facebook.com/marty.gutzler)

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