Colorado plane crash victims not yet recovered
Officials seek more help to recover bodies of plane crash victims; 5 feared dead
This photo provided by the Ouray County Plaindealer shows rescue personnel examining the tail second of a plane on Saturday, March 22, 2014 after it was recovered from the Ridgeway Reservoir south of Montrose. Colo. The plane believed to be carrying five people crashed into a reservoir in southwestern Colorado and authorities say all are feared dead. Divers are to be used Sunday to search for victims and to recover the rest of the plane. (AP Photo/Ouray County Plaindealer, Patrick Moore) MANDATORY CREDIT
MONTROSE, Colo. (AP) -- Authorities worked to get additional crews and equipment to recover victims from a plane crash in a cold southwestern Colorado reservoir.
The single-engine Socata TBM700 went down over the weekend and authorities said that five occupants are feared dead.
Crews worked Sunday but were unable to retrieve the victims.
Officials said that the aircraft crashed about 90 feet from shore in 60 to 90 feet of water in the reservoir in Ridgway State Park.
"It's in deep water and it's in cold water, and we don't have the right resources in the county" to recover the plane, Ouray County spokeswoman Marti Whitmore said.
Dive teams from Denver and Gunnison on Sunday marked the location of the wreckage as efforts focused on finding the victims and the main body of the aircraft, Whitmore said.
Sonar images showed the fuselage appeared to be intact and the wings still attached, Whitmore said. Recovery work will resume Monday.
The identities of those aboard weren't immediately released.
The plane was heading from Bartlesville, Okla., to Montrose, about 180 miles southwest of Denver. It went down in the reservoir around 2 p.m. Saturday about 25 miles south of Montrose.
The flight took off from Gadsden, Ala., before stopping in Oklahoma, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. The cause of the crash isn't yet known.
Eyewitness statements were turned over to the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board for their investigations.
The plane is registered to an Alabama corporation. Messages left for the company weren't immediately returned.
The crash occurred several weeks after three people died when a plane crashed after taking off from the Telluride airport, less than 50 miles south.
