5 killed in collision of planes identified

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Authorities have released the names of four Alaskans and a Montana man who were killed in a midair collision of two small planes in western Alaska as responders said Thursday that rough terrain is complicating efforts to recover the bodies.

On one plane, pilot Harry Wrase, 48, of Wasilla and his passengers, Steven Paul Andrew, 32, of Kenai, and Aaron Jay Minock, 21, of Russian Mission, were killed in the Wednesday morning crash.

In the other plane, pilot Zach Justin Babat, 44, of Montana and his passenger, Jeff Thomas Burruss, 40, of Haines, were killed. A hometown for Babat was not immediately disclosed.

Wrase was flying a Ravn Alaska Cessna 208 Caravan from Russian Mission to the nearby village of Marshall, troopers said. Babat was piloting a Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures Piper Super Cub and heading for a hunting camp.

There were no survivors in the crash 6 miles northwest of the village of Russian Mission, 375 miles west of Anchorage. Troopers were heading to the scene Thursday to recover the bodies, agency spokesman Megan Peters said.

Rough terrain and the technically complicated nature of midair collisions are making the investigative response and recovery of the bodies difficult, said Clint Johnson, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska division.

The plane wreckages are about half a mile apart at the crash scene, which covers an area accessible only by helicopter, Johnson said. A National Transportation Safety Board investigative team and troopers reached the scene late Wednesday afternoon, landing a quarter-mile from the Cessna, then hiking through woods thick with alder trees. There was no time for troopers to recover the victims Wednesday before responders had to depart before night fell, Johnson said.

“This is a very challenging area for what we need to do,” he said, adding that the safety board investigators were heading out again Thursday.

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