By Max Mogensen,Staff Writer

BETHEL – Wreckage from Thursday’s fatal crash of a Cessna 172 on Barker Mountain in Newry was moved to the airport here Sunday.

Authorities said what’s left of the aircraft will be hauled by truck to a secured facility for study and investigation into the cause of the wreck.

Also on Sunday, roughly 75 students and parents walked from Martel Avenue to Lewiston High School, where they met at the flagpole in a show of sympathy for the families of victims of the crash.

Lewiston High School Principal Gus Leblanc said students involved in the school’s ROTC program organized the walk with the help of some parents. The group assembled on Martel Avenue and walked along Eastern Avenue to the high school. Each carried a candle.

It was “a public expression of their sympathy and their solidarity,” said Leblanc, who did not learn about the planned walk until 4 Sunday afternoon when he was contacted by students. He told them he would be proud to attend.

“This was something they wanted to do on their own,” he said.

The school supported the vigil. “We wanted to support the students and their expression,” said Leblanc.

Meanwhile, the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department is no longer investigating the crash, according to Chief Deputy Jim Davis. That duty has been passed along to federal agencies.

Since Thursday night, rescuers have been trying to move through the rough terrain surrounding the crash site, accessible only by foot. After removing the bodies of the victims Saturday, three Lewiston High School students and the 24-year-old pilot from Auburn, crews worked to airlift the remnants of the plane with the help of helicopters.

The four victims included sophomore Shannon Fortier, senior Teisha Loesberg, senior Nicholas Babcock, and the pilot, William Charles Weir. The students were taking part in an introductory flying lesson, part of a summer camp program run by the Lewiston Air Force Junior ROTC.

According to Paul Schlamm, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, the wreckage was moved to the Bethel Airport by Sunday evening. He expected that it would be transported by truck to the Biddeford Municipal Airport by Monday morning, where it will be protected “out of the elements,” under “secure storage.” The wreckage will remain in Biddeford as long as it may be needed by NTSB investigators, the Federal Aviation Administration, or the Cessna Corp., all of which are involved in the investigation.

The Oxford County Sheriff’s Department had led the investigation until it was passed to federal bureaus. Chief Deputy Davis said Sunday that he had not visited the crash scene since Saturday.

Don Gray, a retired warden with the Maine Warden’s Service who had aided rescue crews, had similarly backed away from the crash investigation as of Sunday evening. The Warden’s Service had been at work at the site Saturday, Gray said, ensuring that fuels from the plane had not leaked into a nearby brook. By Sunday, however, local investigations had nearly ceased, according to Gray. Gray..000