Nine people, including a pilot and two children, are dead after a plane crashed in a South Dakota cornfield amid rough weather, officials say.
Twelve people were onboard midday Saturday when the plane went down in rural Brule County traveling from Chamberlain to Idaho, Brule County State’s Attorney Theresa Maule Rossow said. Survivors were taken to hospitals in the Sioux Falls area.
The passengers, part of a hunting party, ranged in age from 7 to 81, and the three survivors are males ages 17, 27 and 28, Brule County Emergency Manager Katheryn Benton said. The most critically injured person had several bone fractures, she said. Information about the others’ injuries was not immediately available.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and has yet to give a cause for the crash of the Pilatus PC-12, a small aircraft with a single-engine-driven propeller. But Benton said she’s certain a “combination of several weather factors” contributed to the tragedy.
People across South Dakota had been advised against travel during stormy conditions that intensified during the Thanksgiving weekend, she said, and no landings were allowed at Chamberlain’s airport when the plane went down. An interstate highway also was closed from the town to Wyoming.
Authorities have not identified the victims, but people in Idaho Falls mourned a family that one local business owner called “pillars in the community” in a post online. Among the dead are executives Kirk and Jim Hansen, according to a statement from Kyäni Vision Group, a team within a wellness company the men founded. The Hansens’ father, Jim Hansen Sr., and other relatives also died, friends said.
The Hansens held leadership positions in other companies, including a family petroleum business, according to Kyäni’s website. Acquaintances said they were also active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Their influence in the community and church will be heavily felt,” Kevin Call, a friend of the family, told East Idaho News. “They weren’t showy but quiet, heavy contributors.”
Chamberlain and other parts of South Dakota were under a winter storm warning until noon Sunday, according to the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. The Weather Service cautioned of ice, snow and winds as fast as 40 mph as bad weather across the country was predicted to hit millions of travelers returning home after Thanksgiving.
Conditions in Chamberlain could hinder travel, and “patchy blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility,” the Weather Service advisory stated.
The conditions also delayed efforts to inspect the scene, authorities said, though all bodies were removed from the wreckage by Saturday afternoon. But investigators arrived Sunday morning, according to Benton.
A final report analyzing the cause of the crash could take one to two years, but a preliminary report will be out within two weeks, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.
The Federal Aviation Administration also has been notified, according to Maule Rossow.
“The men and women of law enforcement, first responders and medical professionals should be commended in their heroic actions to rescue the victims in extreme weather conditions,” Maule Rossow said in a statement.
All people on the downed plane were from Idaho, she said.
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