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Lake Erie Crash Efforts Shift to Recovery

Posted on: Monday, 19 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Rescue workers battling heavy snow, shifting ice and low clouds gave up any hope of pulling survivors from the frigid waters of Lake Erie where 10 people were presumed killed in a single-engine plane crash.

"Unfortunately, this has changed from a rescue mission to a recovery mission," Constable Brian Knowler, of the provincial police in Kingsville, said Sunday.

The Cessna 208 Caravan crashed in snowy weather late Saturday afternoon. By Sunday it was submerged in 24 feet of water about a mile west of Canada's Pelee Island, the Ontario Provincial Police said.

The Georgian Express plane had just taken off from the island, bound for Windsor, about 35 miles to the northwest, when the pilot made a frantic call for help. It carried eight hunters from Ontario, the pilot and a friend of the pilot.

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined.

Ontario Provincial Police said divers were to begin working at the crash site Monday morning. A Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker arrived late Sunday at a nearby base and was to transport investigators to the scene.

Frigid weather and shifting ice in Lake Erie complicated the effort, police said. Monday's forecast called for temperatures in the teens and 20s, snow showers and waves building from 3 to 5 feet. The water temperature in Lake Erie was about 34 degrees.

"They'll begin to survey the scene and begin preliminary dives," police Constable Dennis Masse said Monday. "It's very cold, very difficult dive conditions in the best of times - even more so because of the wind and ice."

Many of Pelee Island's 180 or so year-round residents recognized the eight hunters, who traveled several times a year to the popular pheasant-hunting destination, said Pelee Township Mayor Bill Krestel.

"I think everybody has met some of those people at one time or another," Krestel said Sunday.

Authorities identified the pilot as Wayne Price, 32, of Richmond Hill. The other victims were Fred Freitas, 38, of Kingsville; Jim Allen, 51, of Mitchell's Bay; Ted Reeve, 53, of Chatham; Tom Reeve,49, of Chatham; Robert Brisco, 46, of Chatham; Ronald Spencler, 53, of Windsor; Walter Sadowski, 48, of Windsor; Larry Janik, 48, of Kingsville; and Jamie Levine, 28, of Los Angeles.

Sadowski's wife, Theresa, said she felt numb as she waited for the recovery. "We're just waiting. I wish it could be over sooner, but I understand it takes time," she said.

Walter Sadowski and the family dog had joined his friends after finishing his midnight shift Thursday at Chrysler Canada for what had become an annual winter jaunt to Pelee Island, his wife said.

Krestel said the crash was a severe blow to the town, where air travel is the only way in and out during the winter. A ferry runs between the island and mainland in the warmer months.

Don Enns, regional senior investigator for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said he did not have reliable information yet about the weather at the time of the crash and could not say whether it played a role.

Some island residents said it struck them as odd the plane took off in such poor conditions. "It was crummy weather," Shawnda Bedel, 29, said in a telephone interview. "It snowed most of the day."

However, Paul Mulrooney, president of Georgian Express, said the Cessna Caravan is "very capable of flying in this weather." He said Price had worked for Georgian Express for more than a year.

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Associated Press writer Tarek El-Tablawy in Detroit contributed to this report.

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