Thanks for the link to the update, Honesty.
5 Jehovah's Witness ministers killed in plane crash
September 2, 2007
ELIZABETHTON (WATE) -- The FAA says five Jehovah's Witness ministers from East Tennessee were killed when their small plane crashed in the Cherokee National Forest on Holston Mountain shortly after takeoff.
Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes said all five bodies are accounted for in the wreckage, including the pilot, Victor James Osborne of Morristown.
The names of the other four ministers are being withheld until their families can be notified. The five elders are from Chattanooga, Pigeon Forge, Morristown, Elizabethton and Unicoi counties.
6 News has confirmed that one of the ministers is an elder at Kingdom Hall in Sevierville.
According to the Carter County Sheriff's Department, the single-engine Beech Bonanza crashed around 10:30 a.m. Saturday after leaving the Elizabethton Municipal Airport.
6 News has learned from elders of other area congregations that all five elders aboard the plane were volunteer ministers headed to Abingdon, Virginia to conduct outreach and discuss building a new Kingdom Hall in that area.
A passing airplane spotted the smoldering wreckage around 7:00 p.m. Saturday about a mile and a half down the southern side of Holston Mountain in a rugged and remote area.
A ground search initiated Saturday night was stalled by darkness. But Mathes said authorities found the wreckage early Sunday and cut a path to the site of the crash.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.