Plane Crash Leaves 3 Dead in Colorado: Report

By Jorge Calvillo (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Feb 19, 2014 07:45 AM EST

At least three people lost their lives on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 16, when a small plane in which they traveled crashed close to the airstrip near a skiing lodge in Colorado, local media reported.

According to information published by the Associated Press, via CBS, San Miguel County, Colorado authorities have identified the people killed as 57-year-old Sherry Anderson, 64-year-old Sherman Anderson, both from Phoenix, and a third man, identified as 48-year-old Eric Durban, from Mesa, also in Arizona.

The police revealed that the single engine Beechcraft Bonanza in which they traveled took off from the regional Telluride airport at around 11:20 a.m. on Sunday and was headed towards Cortez, in southeast Colorado, but it crashed against a cliff about one mile west of the Telluride airstrip.

Police units and the Civil Air Patrol found the rests of the plane at around 5:17 p.m. on Sunday, six hours after the air traffic control towers in Telluride and Denver lost contact with the plane and an intense search was launched to find the plane.

Finally, after the search, authorities confirmed that there were no survivors after the tragic accident, said the Sheriff of San Miguel County, Bill Masters, reported Fox News' website.

Photo of plane crash near Telluride pic.twitter.com/MRxci948FK

- Sheriff Bill Masters (@sheriffmasters) Feb. 17, 2014

A press release from the San Miguel County Sheriff's office the CBS had access to, detailed that the Andersons were experienced commercial pilots, and Durban had experience as a former military pilot, which is why an investigation was launched to determine the causes of the accident.

Shortly after the wreckage of the missing plane were found, Bill Masters published a picture of the fuselage of the crashed plane on his Twitter account. "This is certainly not the result we were waiting for. It is a terrible, terrible tragedy," the Sheriff wrote.