Three people were killed when a small plane crashed in Polk County, according to a news release from the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management.
The McGhee Tyson Airport air traffic control tower in Alcoa, Tennessee, called Polk County 911 on Friday to report a small plane had disappeared from radar. At 2:23 p.m., several tri-state mutual aid agencies responded to the 1700 block of Tellico Reliance Road by the Cherokee National Forest to search for the missing plane, the news release said.
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Rescue personnel entered the woods near the area where the plane was last seen on radar, and at 4:54 p.m., they reported finding the plane wreckage and three deceased individuals, according to the news release.
Plane information, the victims’ identities and the cause of the plane crash are under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, the release said.
— Compiled by Jody Park