Wallowa County plane crash under investigation
By Joe Hathaway on Monday, January 29th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
WALLOWA COUNTY – Authorities continue to investigate a plane crash that occurred in Wallowa County on Friday, January 26.
According to the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office, a call came through around 1:30 that afternoon that a plane had gone down in the Wenaha area. Sheriff’s deputies, along with search and rescue crews, rushed to the scene, which thanks to an iPhone alert gave crews the correct coordinates.
Searchers located the crash soon after, but due to rough, steep terrain, rescuers had to rappel down from helicopters to the crash site. The two people in the plane, a pilot and a passenger, were alive but a Sheriffs’ Deputy says “they were in pretty bad shape.”
Two LifeFlight helicopters managed to land about a quarter mile away from the crash site, and rescuers were able to get the two victims to the choppers and fly them to a hospital in Lewiston, Idaho.
As of Monday, January 29, the conditions and identities of the two onboard are unknown. The Sheriff’s Office says the cause of the crash is under investigation.
