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SALTVILLE, Va. (AP) — Police say at least two people died when a small airplane crashed into a mountain in southwest Virginia.
State Police Lt. Ed Murphy said Tuesday that there are conflicting reports on whether there were two or three people on the plane. Nobody survived.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the Beechcraft BE-55 was flying about seven miles northeast of Tazewell County Airport in Richlands when air traffic controllers lost contact with it Monday. Murphy said it appears the pilot was trying to avoid an isolated storm when the plane crashed.
It took rescuers 2½ hours to reach the heavily wooded crash site on Flat Top Mountain by foot Tuesday.
The FAA said the aircraft was headed from Spruce Creek Airport near Daytona Beach, Florida, to Ohio's Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
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