According to a statement from the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office, the wreckage of the plane that crashed in a heavily wooded area of Montana was located using location data from one of the victims' smartwatches. All three individuals on the plane lost their lives.
The victims were identified as 60-year-old Rodney Conover and 23-year-old Madison Conover from Tennessee, and 55-year-old Kurt Enoch Robey from Utah.
The plane had taken off just before midnight on Thursday from West Yellowstone Airport. Shortly after, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the aircraft's location could not be determined and requested assistance from local authorities.
Search and rescue teams were able to locate the wreckage on Friday afternoon in a remote area south of West Yellowstone using location information obtained from a passenger's smartwatch.
Two reconnaissance planes identified the crash site, but it took ground teams hours to reach the heavily forested area. The sheriff's office confirmed in a statement: "Search and rescue teams located the plane and confirmed that all three occupants were deceased."
After the bodies were removed from the aircraft, they were airlifted by helicopter and handed over to medical examiners by a sheriff's deputy.
