AUGUSTA — Lewis and Clark County Sheriff and Coroner Leo Dutton said three bodies have been recovered from the site of a Cessna 182 plane crash west of Augusta.
The plane went down Thursday afternoon in the area of Crown Mountain in the Scapegoat Wilderness.
Dutton told MTN that the identities of those on the plane are still being confirmed.
He said due to fire from the crash, investigators will have to use DNA to identify the three people aboard, and it could take weeks to get the results.
"It is terrible, and I wish I could tell the family positively who was in that plane, but I cannot until I get the DNA back from the crime lab," said Dutton.
It is unclear exactly when the plane crashed.
According to Dutton, the aircraft was traveling from Pullman, Wash., to Great Falls when it went off the radar screen at 12:30 p.m.
Salt Lake City air traffic control saw the plane was overdue and started notifying local jurisdictions.
Around that same time, two people near the crash site saw the plane go down and alerted authorities.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into what caused the crash.
