Photos courtesy of the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office

The victims of a fatal airplane crash in Guthrie County have been identified.

According to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, the pilot of the aircraft was 49-year-old Edward Ralph Anderson of Le Mars, and passengers were 36-year-old Patrick Kellen of Le Mars, 28-year-old Tyler Douvia of Merrill, and 15-year-old Samantha Clark of Le Mars.

At about 5:08 p.m. Friday deputies received a phone call from Des Moines Air Traffic Control requesting an emergency landing for a single engine aircraft tail #91770 at the Guthrie Center Airport. The plane had left Le Mars at 3:15 p.m. traveling to Osceola with four people on board. Traffic control advised the pilot had suffered a heart attack and a student pilot would be attempting an emergency landing. Guthrie Center Fire and Rescue and Panora Rescue were dispatched to the airport for the emergency landing. The aircraft never arrived, and traffic control reported the plane dropped off radar approximately four miles southwest of the airport.

Guthrie County Sheriff’s deputies launched an extensive search and rescue mission to locate the plane. At about 6:31 a.m. Saturday a Guthrie County citizen reported a small plane crash in a cow pasture southwest of the intersection of 265th and Maple Avenue. The plane impacted very hard and all occupants were deceased at the scene. The crash site is being secured pending an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Agencies who assisted in the investigation were the Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Adair, Dallas, and Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Panora and Stuart Police Departments, Guthrie County Emergency Management, Guthrie Center Fire and Rescue, Panora Fire and Rescue, and numerous other law enforcement, fire, and rescue agencies.