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Freight Dawgs Rule
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Two Survive Plane Crash Thought to Kill 5
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) -- Two people who were reported killed in a plane crash on Monday emerged alive from rugged Montana wilderness Wednesday, authorities said.
The two U.S. Forest Service employees reached a highway after making their way on foot for miles through mountains in northwestern Montana, said Denise Germann, a spokeswoman for the Flathead National Forest. Three others died in the crash.
"It's just an unbelievable miracle. You look at that crash site, that wreckage, you'd never believe anyone could have survived," said Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont. "It's incredible, truly incredible."
Dupont had said Tuesday that it appeared all five people on board the small plane died on impact. The crash started a fire "that literally melted everything," he said.
He was at the crash scene sifting through wreckage and human remains when he learned Wednesday there were two survivors.
Jodee Hogg, 23, of Billings, and Matthew Ramige, 29, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., were spotted by a motorist Wednesday afternoon, Germann said. The motorist drove to a bar in the Essex area, about six air miles from the crash site, and asked the bartender to call for help.
Hogg was listed in stable condition at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Ramige was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for burn treatment.
The crash occurred above the timberline on Mount Liebig in the Great Bear Wilderness, near the southern edge of Glacier National Park.
Jim Long, 60, of Kalispell was piloting the plane. Also on board were Ken Good, 58, of Whitefish, an employee of the Flathead National Forest, and Davita Bryant, 32, of Whitefish.
Hogg, Ramige and Bryant were assigned to the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Station in Fort Collins, Colo., but worked out of the station's office in Ogden, Utah.
"Can you imagine these families?" asked Bob Bryant, father-in-law of Davita Bryant. "They've been told their kids are dead. And now they are resurrected," he said in an interview with The (Kalispell) Daily Inter Lake.
Linda Woods of Whitefish, a friend of one victim and survivor Ramige, said she had helped organize a group of 100 people to search for survivors but their offer to help was declined Tuesday.
"Last night, we sat on the couch and cried instead of being out hiking and searching. And we just accepted what we were told," she said.
The plane crashed en route to a grass landing strip at Schafer Meadows Guard Station, near the Middle Fork of the Flathead River in the Great Bear-Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
The four workers aboard the plane intended to conduct an annual vegetation inventory and repair telecommunication facilities, Germann said.
Brian Ladd, who supervises the public bus system in Jackson Hole where Ramige works as a driver in the winter, was jubilant when he heard his friend had survived.
"Wow! It was quite a turnaround," he said.
In the summer, Ramige hikes into the backcountry and counts trees for the Forest Service, sometimes covering an entire square mile, regardless of terrain, Ladd told the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
"He did a ton of hiking," Ladd said. "I guess he'd probably be pretty well prepared to walk out."
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) -- Two people who were reported killed in a plane crash on Monday emerged alive from rugged Montana wilderness Wednesday, authorities said.
The two U.S. Forest Service employees reached a highway after making their way on foot for miles through mountains in northwestern Montana, said Denise Germann, a spokeswoman for the Flathead National Forest. Three others died in the crash.
"It's just an unbelievable miracle. You look at that crash site, that wreckage, you'd never believe anyone could have survived," said Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont. "It's incredible, truly incredible."
Dupont had said Tuesday that it appeared all five people on board the small plane died on impact. The crash started a fire "that literally melted everything," he said.
He was at the crash scene sifting through wreckage and human remains when he learned Wednesday there were two survivors.
Jodee Hogg, 23, of Billings, and Matthew Ramige, 29, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., were spotted by a motorist Wednesday afternoon, Germann said. The motorist drove to a bar in the Essex area, about six air miles from the crash site, and asked the bartender to call for help.
Hogg was listed in stable condition at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Ramige was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for burn treatment.
The crash occurred above the timberline on Mount Liebig in the Great Bear Wilderness, near the southern edge of Glacier National Park.
Jim Long, 60, of Kalispell was piloting the plane. Also on board were Ken Good, 58, of Whitefish, an employee of the Flathead National Forest, and Davita Bryant, 32, of Whitefish.
Hogg, Ramige and Bryant were assigned to the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Station in Fort Collins, Colo., but worked out of the station's office in Ogden, Utah.
"Can you imagine these families?" asked Bob Bryant, father-in-law of Davita Bryant. "They've been told their kids are dead. And now they are resurrected," he said in an interview with The (Kalispell) Daily Inter Lake.
Linda Woods of Whitefish, a friend of one victim and survivor Ramige, said she had helped organize a group of 100 people to search for survivors but their offer to help was declined Tuesday.
"Last night, we sat on the couch and cried instead of being out hiking and searching. And we just accepted what we were told," she said.
The plane crashed en route to a grass landing strip at Schafer Meadows Guard Station, near the Middle Fork of the Flathead River in the Great Bear-Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
The four workers aboard the plane intended to conduct an annual vegetation inventory and repair telecommunication facilities, Germann said.
Brian Ladd, who supervises the public bus system in Jackson Hole where Ramige works as a driver in the winter, was jubilant when he heard his friend had survived.
"Wow! It was quite a turnaround," he said.
In the summer, Ramige hikes into the backcountry and counts trees for the Forest Service, sometimes covering an entire square mile, regardless of terrain, Ladd told the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
"He did a ton of hiking," Ladd said. "I guess he'd probably be pretty well prepared to walk out."
