A teen ministry official says two of the five people aboard a small plane that crashed in Kansas on the way to a Christian youth rally in Council Bluffs were able to walk away from the crash, but one later died.
A hospital spokesman said Sunday that the lone survivor, 22-year-old Hannah Luce, is in serious condition in a burn unit in Kansas City, Kansas. Luce is the daughter of Ron Luce, the founder of Teen Mania Ministries, which was sponsoring the weekend rally.
A Teen Mania Ministries spokeswoman, Cindy Mallette, said that Luce and a ministry employee, 27-year-old Austin Anderson, were able to get out of the plane and walk to a nearby road to get help after the crash. Anderson, who piloted the plane, died Saturday at a Wichita hospital.
The twin-engine Cessna 401 had taken off from Riverside, Kansas when it crashed around 4:30 p.m. Friday about seven miles northwest of Chanute. It was headed for Council Bluffs.
The other victims were identified as 23-year-old Luke Sheets of Ephraim, Wisconsin, 29-year-old Garrett Coble of Tulsa and 22-year-old Stephen Luth of Muscatine, Iowa.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said the eight-seat plane caught fire after the crash. Knudson said the plane lost contact with air traffic control shortly after getting permission to descend to a lower altitude. Investigators were unaware of any distress call.
