VIDEO: Procession escorts body of ex-Columbus firefighter killed in Ohio plane crash

Several firefighters and some police officers gathered as a procession escorted the body of a former Columbus firefighter, killed in a plane crash in southern Ohio earlier this week, from the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office back to Columbus.

>>RELATED: 2 men identified as victims of deadly plane crash in southern Ohio

Timothy Gifford, 49, of Orient, Ohio was identified as one of the two men killed in the crash in Marietta, Ohio Tuesday. Gifford was identified as a former Columbus firefighter who had just retired in May, Columbus firefighters confirmed to our news partners at WBNS-TV in Columbus.

Gifford’s body was brought to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office after the crash for autopsy and investigation. Thursday afternoon, several firefighters lined the stretch of West Third Street as a Columbus medic unit took Gifford’s body from the coroner’s office back to the Columbus area.

The plane crash happened around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday at a car dealership in Marietta. Gifford and Eric Seevers, 45, of Parkersburg, West Virginia were identified as the two people on board the plane both killed in the crash.

The plane had taken off from the John Glenn Columbus International Airport at 6:40 a.m. and was heading to Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Gifford was remembered as a “selfless hero” by one Columbus woman who was rescued by Gifford in a 2008 crash.

“In the last minute of his life I’m sure he was thinking about everyone else. He is a true hero a selfless hero,” Monica Durban said in an interview with WBNS-TV.

Durban was reunited with Gifford in 2016, eight years after the crash.

“Obviously I’ll never forget that man...my heart is with his family right now,” said Durban.