Anchorage, Aug 11 (AP/UNB) — The National Park Service has ended attempts to recover bodies and wreckage of a small airplane that crashed on a near-vertical mountain within Alaska's Denali National Park.
The agency says it has determined that recovery of the bodies and the aircraft would exceed an acceptable level of risk.
A ranger hauled in with a line below a helicopter reached the crash site Friday and spent an hour at the site.
The ranger confirmed that all five people on board the airplane had died.
The de Havilland Beaver operated by K2 Aviation crashed Aug. 4 near the summit of Thunder Mountain about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) southwest of the summit of Denali, North America's highest mountain.
On board were pilot Craig Layson and four passengers from Poland.