Two people are dead, one injured in Osage Beach plane crash Thursday
Two people are dead and one is injured after an Osage Beach plane crash, according to a press release from the Osage Beach Police Department.
The Osage Beach Police Department and other agencies responded to Grand Glaize Airport around noon on Thursday, after someone saw a plane take off from Lee C. Fine Airport, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and appear to crash.
At 12:13 p.m. Osage Beach PD advised they had received a report of a possible downed aircraft that had just taken off from Lee C. Fine airport. The aircraft has been located in the treeline at the old golf course between Rt KK and US 54.
Please avoid the area. pic.twitter.com/0neAndoGe6— MSHP Troop F (@MSHPTrooperF) July 13, 2023
Responders found the plane and its occupants in the wooded area southeast of 1252 Highway KK. Twenty-two-year-old Hayden M. Ritchhart of Carrolton and 19-year-old Evan R. Vandiver of Richmond, Missouri, were pronounced dead at the scene. The third occupant, 54-year-old Gary Vandiver, also of Richmond, Missouri, was found seriously injured and was airlifted to a hospital, according to the police department.
The police department believes that Ritchhart was flying the plane at the time of the crash.
According to the police department, investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are on their way to the site.
The Osage Beach Police Department was assisted by the Osage Beach Ambulance, Osage Beach Fire District, Mid-County Fire District, Lake Ozark Fire District, Camden County Emergency Management, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri State Park Rangers, Mercy Ambulance, Staff for Life and Lake Regional Hospital.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Osage Beach plane crash kills two people, injures one
