Nine passengers and one pilot died on Sunday, when a small plane crashed at an airport in Alaska. The crash happened in Soldotna, about 75 miles from Anchorage. (July 8)
Nine passengers and the pilot died when the plane crashed Sunday.
Police and emergency personnel stand near the remains of a fixed-wing aircraft that was engulfed in flames Sunday at Soldotna Municipal Airport in Alaska. (Photo: Rashah McChesney, AP)
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The lives of nine people from Greenville - two entire families - ended during a vacation in Alaska, when the small plane they were flying in crashed and burned at a small-town airport 75 miles from Anchorage, family and church officials said.
Melet and Kim Antonakos and their children - Ana, Mills and Olivia - died, along with Chris and Stacey McManus and their children, Meghan and Connor, according to state Rep. Bruce Bannister, who lives near the Antonakos family and goes to church with both families.
EARLIER: Alaska plane crash victims thought to be from South Carolina
It's the third tragedy in less than a month involving parishioners of Christ Church Episcopal, the second involving a plane crash in Alaska.
John Ellenberg, a businessman and aviation firm owner, was killed when the plane he was a passenger in crashed on June 28 in Summit Lake, Alaska, according to officials.
Bill and Woo Thomason died of carbon monoxide poisoning after they were found unconscious in their Crescent Avenue home June 9. Their car accidentally had been left running in the garage, authorities have said.
'I feel like there's a big black cloud over Christ Church right now,' said Heather Meadors, a former director of the preschool for Christ Church Episcopal School who taught all the children as toddlers.
Harrison McLeod, rector of Christ Church, sent out an e-mail to parishioners 'to share with you the news of another tragic loss in our Christ Church family.'
Asked how he could put the series of tragedies in context, he told GreenvilleOnline.com, 'I guess I would just say that during good times and hard times, we are called to rely on our faith in the resurrection and in our companionship with each other.'
Of the Antonakos and McManus families, he said, 'They were both just wonderful families. Vibrant, committed to the church. They will be missed more than words can convey.
'Obviously it's heartbreaking.'
Tracy Underwood of Atlanta, Melet Antonakos' brother-in-law, confirmed his family was told by authorities Monday that the Antonakoses had been killed on the plane, but he said the family didn't want to publicly discuss it.
'We just request family privacy at this time,' he said. 'We just request that our family's wishes be respected. We just prefer not to make any comment.'
The Antonakoses' niece, Angela Welker of Charleston, said authorities told her aunt's sister of the deaths Monday. She said she was too distraught to talk about them.
The pilot, who was from Alaska, also was killed, Soldotna Police Chief Peter Mlynarki said.
He said the state medical examiner hadn't yet confirmed the identities, but based on documents, he said the passengers were all from South Carolina.
The accident happened at 11:20 a.m. Sunday at Soldotna Municipal Airport in the town of about 4,200 in the Kenai Peninsula, according to a statement released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety. The plane was taking off, authorities said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. NTSB spokesman Earl Weener said at a news conference Monday that the agency expects to spend five to eight days on the scene, and determining what caused the accident could take a year.
'Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, with the aim of preventing the same sort of accident in the future,' he said.
There was no flight data recorder as far as officials can tell, and they don't know of any eyewitnesses.
Bannister said he had lived next to the Antonakos family for six years.
'We had a garden we shared. We looked after each other's houses when one of us was gone,' he said.
The father was in medical equipment sales; the mother was a PTA president, swim team mom and booster club enthusiast.
'You name it, if you needed somebody to volunteer, you called Kim Antonakos and she was there,' he said.
Ana Antonakos was 'an exceptional student' who just completed fifth grade at Sara Collins Elementary, Bannister said.
Mills Antonakos was a rising ninth-grader, Bannister said. He had been the student body president at Beck Middle Academy, according to Meadors.
Olivia Antonakos was a member of the student council at J.L. Mann High School, Meadors said. A rising senior, she was first in her class, according to Bannister.
Of the two mothers, Meadors said, 'They were both just completely selfless. They volunteer for any job.'
Stacey McManus volunteered to teach vacation Bible school every year, even though her children are long past the age to attend, Meadors said.
Melet Antonakos, a radiologist, was 'always smiling,' she said.
Connor and Meghan McManus were students at Christ Church Episcopal School, she said.
Greg Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, which includes the medical examiner's office, said the examiners already had eight bodies that needed to be identified before the 10 from the plane crash arrived.
'We are just beginning to look at these 10 cases this afternoon,' he said Monday.
'Our goal is to complete the exams by tomorrow and have IDs possibly by Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how long it takes to get dental records.'
The de Havilland DHC3 Otter air taxi was operated by Rediske Air, an Alaska-based company that makes short trips, sometimes landing in remote areas, the police chief said.
Barnett and Smith also report for The Greenville (S.C.) News.
The airport where the crash occurred has no control tower and one asphalt and one gravel landing strip, the chief said.
No comments:
Post a Comment