The six victims from Bangor’s deadliest plane crash have been removed from the wreckage, more than three days after all on board died in the disaster.
The Maine Office of Chief Medical Examiner has removed all the victims from the site and is working to identify them, spokesperson Lindsey Chasteen said Thursday morning. The office will likely have more information this week, Chasteen said.
The business jet crashed during takeoff Sunday night at the Bangor International Airport. All six people on board died.
Officials have not publicly named those who were killed, but family and friends have identified five of the six dead as event planner Shawna Collins, lawyer Tara Arnold, private chef Nick Mastrascusa, sommelier Shelby Kuyawa and pilot Jacob Hosmer.
Victims were removed more than three days after the crash, as the federal response and investigation was slowed by extreme weather.
Bangor police are working with the medical examiner’s office and the investigation is ongoing, spokesperson Jeremy Brock said.
The jet landed in Bangor to refuel and planned to fly to France. The passengers worked for a luxury travel company, Beyond, created by Arnold and her husband, Kurt, a co-founder of the Texas law firm Arnold & Itkin.
Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board began arriving on Monday, airport officials said.
The NTSB and Bangor airport did not respond to requests for comment.
Sunday’s fatal crash comes just months after the August crash of a single-engine Cessna A185F that killed 74-year-old Italian aviator Luigi Accusani, making it the second fatal civilian aviation disaster in Bangor and the third ever in the Queen City. A Sept. 17, 1944, military plane crash left its two-man crew dead in Bangor.
The airport is expected to reopen at noon on Thursday.
