By Phil Helsel
A "brave little girl" survived the crash of a small plane that killed the four other people on board in the remote Kentucky woods and walked through the woods to get help Friday, authorities said Friday night.
"Seven years old. Brave little girl," Larry WIlkins, 71, the man the little girl went to, told NBC News late Friday in a telephone interview. "She had walked three-quarters of a mile through the woods, in the dark. I wouldn't want to walk through that woods at dark."
"She told me when she got to the door that her mom and her dad were dead, and she was in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down. She asked if she could stay here. I said, 'Honey, what can I do for you?' I got a washcloth and cleaned her up, and of course called 911."
Investigators said the four victims were the pilot and the remaining passengers. The girl was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Their identities were being withheld until their families could be told.
Wilkins said the girl knocked on his door about 6:20 p.m. (7:20 p.m. ET). "She was bleeding pretty bad," he said. "Her legs were bleeding [and] her face had a bloody nose. She was barefoot — only had one sock on."
State police said the plane was found in the area of Suwanee in Lyon County, in western Kentucky about 30 miles east of Paducah. They said the small aircraft was bound for Mount Vernon, Illinois, after having taken off from had took off from Key West, Florida.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it received a distress call from a private aircraft in the area Friday night and would have investigators at the scene Saturday, along with investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board.
"I felt so sorry for her tears come my eyes," Wilkins said. "I wish there was something else I could do for her, but I don't know what that would be."
First published January 2 2015, 7:56 PM
Phil Helsel
Phil Helsel is a reporter and news editor for NBCNews.com. He has previously been a reporter and online producer at the New Haven Register, Staten Island Advance, New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications.
... Expand Bio
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1xhHXY7
0 comments:
Post a Comment