Bodies of 3 people killed in crash recovered from mountain

MOOSE PASS, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Department of Public Safety says the bodies of three people killed in a plane crash in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula have been recovered from the crash site.

Spokeswoman Megan Peters say the bodies were brought back Sunday from a mountain on the north side of Tern Lake near Moose Pass. They are being taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for autopsies.

The small plane crashed Friday into a mountain on the north side of Tern Lake near Moose Pass, Alaska State Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain told the Anchorage Daily News. Three people were killed in the crash, but one person was airlifted to Providence Hospital in critical condition.

The Daily News reported that family members said the survivor, 28-year-old Joy Cooper of Paris, Texas, was on vacation in Alaska with friends when the plane crashed. Cooper suffered multiple broken bones and a partially collapsed lung, but was responsive in the hospital Saturday, her family told the newspaper.