GUTHRIE CENTER, Iowa — The Iowa State Patrol and Guthrie County Sheriff’s office confirmed Saturday the deaths of four people in a Friday night plane crash in rural Guthrie County.
Killed were Edward Ralph Anderson, 49, of Le Mars, Patrick Kellen, 36, of Le Mars, Tyler Douvia, 28, of Merrill and Samantha Clark, 15, of Le Mars. Anderson was piloting the single-engine plane when it left Le Mars for Osceola about 4:15 p.m. Friday, according to a statement by Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright.
Arganbright said his office received a call shortly after 5 p.m. from Des Moines air traffic control, requesting an emergency landing for the plane after Anderson suffered a heart attack en route and one of the passengers took over the controls of the aircraft.
Guthrie Center Fire and Rescue and Panora Rescue were dispatched to the Guthrie Center Airport for the emergency landing, but the aircraft never arrived at the airport.
The Des Moines air traffic control said it lost radar contact with the aircraft approximately four miles southwest of the Guthrie Center Airport.
Search-and-resuce crews were mobilized about 9 p.m. Friday night, involving numerous public-safety agencies from Guthrie, Dallas, Adair and Carroll counties, but the search was unsuccessful.
About 6:30 a.m. Saturday, a caller reported a crashed plane in a cow pasture southwest of the intersection of 265th Street and Maple Avenue. The plane was identified as the flight originating in Le Mars.
“The plane impacted very hard, and all occupants were deceased at the scene,” said Arganbright. Photographs released by the Guthrie County Sheriff’s office show a mass of twisted wreckage from the impact of the crash, which destroyed the engine and much of the fuselage of the single-engine airplane.
The vicitms were transported to the Iowa Medical Examiner’s office in Ankeny.
The crash site has been secured pending an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administraion, Arganbright said.
Assisting the Guthrie County Sheriff’s office in the extensive search-and-rescue mission were the Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Adair County Sheriff’s office, Dallas County Sheriff’s office, Carroll County Sheriff’s office, Panora Police Department, Stuart Police Department, Guthrie County Emergency Management, Guthrie Center Fire and Rescue, Panora Fire and Rescue and numerous other law enforcement, fire and rescue agencies.
