By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

NEWRY – Many of the emergency workers rushing to the scene of a small plane crash June 22 on a thickly wooded and remote Mahoosuc range hillside were hoping to save lives.

“The worst part came when we found out there were three children up there,” Tri-Town Rescue Director Norman St. Pierre said Friday. That ratcheted up everyone’s anxiety and the need to help them.

Worse still was when the rescuers, many of them volunteers from area fire and ambulance crews, realized there were no survivors, and the task before them was a grim recovery operation that would stretch out over three long days.

Most had no training in aviation accidents, other than one nearly 14 years ago on nearby Mount Will that killed two people, former Newry fire Chief Brad Wight said Friday afternoon.

The first hint of the unfolding tragedy came at 4:15 p.m. when Med-Care Ambulance of Mexico and Newry firefighters were sent to the plane crash on Barker Mountain, Med-Care Director Dean Milligan said Friday morning.

Milligan took Med-Care’s new sport-utility vehicle that was designed specifically for just such accidents, because of its communications and mapping equipment.

Other responders included Bethel Rescue and Tri-Town Rescue, Andover Fire Department’s technical rescue team, Bethel firefighters, locals who knew the terrain and Bethel police. Also, there were Oxford County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Sheriff Lloyd “Skip” Herrick, the Maine Warden Service, and LifeFlight, which sent a medical helicopter that would prove invaluable both in finding the site and guiding ground teams to it, Milligan and St. Pierre said.

Everyone converged on Bethel Municipal Airport, including Bethel Water District Superintendent Lucien Roberge. The crash happened on district property, but didn’t affect any water supplies, he added..

Milligan commanded the EMS teams, assisted by St. Pierre and Cheryl Bennett of Bethel Rescue.

“A lot of people were very anxious – ready to go – but we had to slow them down and do it in an organized manner,” St. Pierre said.

A rapid response team consisting of 14 people from various services went first, some carrying chain saws to cut a path. Four medical groups were assembled, one for each plane occupant.

Milligan said LifeFlight found and photographed the crash site, and took the pictures to the command post.

“The pictures were pretty grim. They showed that the plane had caught on fire,” Milligan said. Not much else could be seen in the dense, jungle-like woods.

At that point, they still believed they’d find survivors.

There were intermittent white puffs of smoke rising from the wreckage.

Another group consisting of medics, firefighters, wardens and police was sent in to assist the first group due to the humidity and heat, and to secure the scene, St. Pierre said.

Wight was one of the four-wheel ATV operators in the first team. Somewhere in the steep and rocky terrain, several of the first team got separated due, Wight said, to communication problems.

Only four made it to the crash site, arriving between 8 and 8:30 p.m., Wight said.

That’s when command was notified there was no survivors.

“It got really somber, because we were hoping to bring people out of there alive, but the reality was, that there wasn’t any survivors,” Milligan said.

“Once we found out they were kids, (the mood) got sour in a hurry,” said St. Pierre, who admitted he’s had trouble sleeping at night since the incident.

At that point, it became a recovery operation.

Rescue teams were taken off the mountain, leaving Oxford County Deputies Chancey Libby and Michael Halacy behind to protect the scene during the night, Oxford County Sgt. Tim Ontengco said Friday afternoon.

On the morning of June 23, two teams consisting of about 50 people went to the crash site. Among them, were, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Todd Gunther, three Federal Aviation Administration officials, a Maine medical examiner, and members of the Mahoosuc Mountain Rescue team, who cut and flagged a path.

“The mood going up, knowing what we knew, it wasn’t a nice trip,” said Ontengco, whose task was to collect evidence with Oxford County Sgt. Matt Baker. Baker is investigating the four unattended deaths aspect; Gunther the crash.

“Everything was done with dignity toward the victims. We did everything very meticulously, because we wanted to be respectful to the families,” Milligan said.

The victims’ bodies were secured by the medical examiner, carried off the mountain by responders, placed into a warden’s vehicle, and driven inside an aircraft hangar to be taken to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta for identification and autopsies, he added.

On Sunday, a helicopter removed the 1979 Cessna 172 wreckage. It was later trucked to Biddeford, where it is being stored during the federal investigation, Gunther said.

“It was sad that we didn’t get to save anybody, but all the operations were perfect. Every service there worked together as one unit,” Milligan said.

“Everyone did a super job,” St. Pierre said.

On Thursday night, a review of the operation revealed a need to train for aircraft accidents and to get backpacks that contain essential advance life support equipment, he said.

Another need is to organize a countywide team of aggressive, in-shape responders to get on-scene fast but safe.

“We went into this not prepared for a plane crash or mass casualty incident. So, we need to train for it. We’ve got the Bethel airport here, and there were two plane crashes, so, it’s going to happen again. It’s just a matter of time, and we’ve got to be prepared,” St. Pierre said.