PAGE, Ariz. – Two National Park Service law enforcement officers have died in the crash of a small plane in southern Utah.
Park Service spokeswoman Michelle Fiddler says the two were on a scouting trip for an upcoming elk hunt when their plane was reported overdue early Saturday. Searchers found the wreckage hours later in the Dixie National Forest. Both occupants were dead at the scene.
They were assigned to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area along the Arizona-Utah border.
The pilot was identified as Dangling Rope District Law Enforcement Ranger Laurie Axelsen. The passenger was Glen Canyon’s Chief Law Enforcement Ranger, Brent McGinn. Their ages were not available.
The Dixie National Forest covers about 2 million acres of southern Utah near Cedar City.