CHETEK, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on the northwestern Wisconsin plane crash that killed one teen and injured another (all times local):
10:45 a.m.
Hospital officials say the teen who survived a fatal plane crash in northwestern Wisconsin is in serious condition at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Eighteen-year-old Hunter Gillett was a passenger in the two-seat plane that crashed into the Red Cedar River near Chetek Wednesday evening, killing the pilot, 17-year-old Owen Knutson.
Cameron School District Administrator Joe Leschisin says Gillett was a standout student-athlete at the high school and was set to graduate on Friday. Leschisin was on his way to Rochester to visit Gillett who he describes as a hard-working, respectful young man.
Federal investigators will search for the cause of the crash, which is about seven miles from last week’s tornado touchdown that caused one fatality and widespread damage.
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10 a.m.
Sheriff’s officials in northwestern Wisconsin have identified the teens involved in a fatal plane crash.
The Barron County Sheriff’s Department says 17-year-old Owen Knutson died when the single-engine plane he was piloting crashed into a river in a rural area near Chetek Wednesday evening. An 18-year-old passenger, Hunter Gillett, was seriously injured. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School senior is hospitalized at Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota.
Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said Thursday the plane wreckage was located in the Red Cedar River just south of Chetek. He says Knutson had taken off from a private air strip on his family’s property nearby.
Fitzgerald says first responders had a difficult time locating the wreckage which was about a quarter mile from any roadway.
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8:23 a.m.
Sheriff’s officials say one teenager has died and another has been critically injured in the crash of a small plane crash in northwestern Wisconsin.
Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says the plane went down about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday near Chetek (sheh-TEK’), the community where a tornado last week caused one fatality and widespread damage.
Authorities say the single-engine, two-seat plane went down in the Red Cedar River. Fitzgerald says the teen who died was a senior at Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School. The injured teen is a senior at Cameron High School.
A boat was brought in to secure the plane in the river. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.
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