Survival Story

[Wild]

Check out this story about two forest rangers who survived a plane crash. I'm curious to hear how they found their way out of the woods afterwards.

 

[TCD]

More details are out now on CNN about how they survived. Obviously tough people. 2 1/2 ,iles isn't very far, but it's VERY far with a broken back! No details on the injuries to the female survivor.

Everything else aside, it's a blessing.

Anyone else find the story a bit strange regarding how the authorities concluded that all 5 passengers were killed? I think there's a broken link somewhere in there!

The way it reads, the undersheriff searched the crash site, and finding no survivors, concluded all were killed. Then the authorities went on to inform the families. Now, every plane that flies has to file a flight plan and a passenger manifest, and it was clear to everyone that there had been 5 people on board. Even after a fire, there were only 3 bodies on the site. Even if you speculate that a body might have been thrown, let's say up to 100 feet, you can search a 100 foot radius circle extremely thoroughly before you conclude that the body cannot be found. Reporting those 2 people to their FAMILIES as dead, rather than missing, seems to be to have been an irresponsible and insensitive error, at least. What did they think happened to the bodies? Did they think they evaporated?

Any opinions?

TCD

 

[SAR-EMT40]

They examined the crash scene that included some badly burned bodies. The heat was intense enough that metal had been melted. According to the description I read the plane was basically in a 40 foot long area. The one thing they couldn't explain was why one of the seat belt buckles they had found was opened. I have seen scenes like that with cars. Nothing looks like what you think it should look like or what you are used too. It is sometimes very hard to understand what you are even looking at, including human remains. I think that they made the assumption that no one could have survived the crash without actually being able to account for all the bodies that should have been there or maybe they thought that they did account for all the bodies. Maybe because they just could not get full access to the inside of the aircraft. Certainly they would have been correct if no one had gotten out of the aircraft. They said they searched for footprints and found none. Too dark, too tired, too careless, too incompetent I don't know.

Agreed, 2.5 miles bushwacking with a broken back and burns gets my vote for hiker of the year.

It is really a tragedy that the third person didn't survive.

Keith

 

[TCD]

You are right, it is very sad about the third person, Ken Good, who apparently survived the immediate crash and died later at the site. The CNN article indicates the two survivors stayed with Good as long as he was alive.

I'll be surprised if we don't see more on this in the next couple days in the news. The fact that Good survived, even briefly, indicates that his body must have been more or less intact after the crash. Finding one more or less intact body would, to me, as a SAR person also, be a very strong sign that NO ONE should be assumed dead and not searched for.

TCD

 

[woodstrider]

Missing bodies

It seems that, while one should not give false hope to friends and family, still a person shouldn't be listed as dead without more effort to identify remains then what appears to have been done. The World Trade center comes to mind.