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People vacationing at Bear Lake this morning were stunned when a single-engine plane crashed into the shore, killing both people on board.
The plane crashed on a sandy beach near Azure Cove, on the west shore of Bear Lake at the Utah-Idaho border.
A witness, Laura Huddleston, said, "You could hear it shifting high, then it went straight down."
People in the area heard a big boom and went to help.
Another witness said, "He had hit straight down. The wings were all busted up. Gas was flowing out of it."
The man piloting the plane, Charles McCall, and a passenger, 49-year-old Deborah Lucero, were killed instantly. The Washington state couple was traveling to Bear Lake to meet up with friends who had a cabin close by.
Rich County Sheriff Dale Stacey said, "They were going to fly down here so their friends knew they were here, then fly up to the airport."
The tragedy could have been worse. The beach normally is much more crowded. But when the plane went down before 9 a.m., no one was on the beach.
A witness said, "Yesterday this beach was full. If they'd done this two hours later, they'd probably have gotten some people."
It was a tragic scene for anyone to witness. "It's still really hard that it actually happened," Huddleston said.
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate.
The woman on the plane leaves behind five children.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
