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MINERSVILLE, Utah (AP) -- With help from a state helicopter, authorities Wednesday recovered the bodies of three Idaho men who died when their plane slammed into a mountain in southwestern Utah.
"The bodies were airlifted," said Trooper Cameron Roden of the Utah Department of Public Safety.
The deaths were confirmed when the wreckage was discovered Tuesday night. But searchers waited until daylight to remove the bodies because of the remote location in the Black Mountains, near the Beaver County-Iron County line.
"The plane's up at about the 7,500-foot elevation," Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower said.
He said weather probably was a factor in the crash of the Bonanza low-wing plane.
"There was a really low cloud deck at the time," Gower said. "The mountain range was concealed by the clouds."
The plane was flying to St. George, Utah, from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and was scheduled to land about 9:30 a.m. MST Tuesday. An hour earlier, the pilot asked air-traffic officials for a weather update.
The victims were identified as Robert Wolz, Tom Sainsbury and Gaylen Nelson, all from eastern Idaho. Their hometowns were not immediately released.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
