An air ambulance enroute from Bismarck to Williston crashed late last night northwest of Mandan.
The three occupants were killed. All were medical personnel – the pilot, a paramedic and a registered nurse from CHI-St. Alexius Medical Center.
The twin engine Cessna was operated by Metro Air Ambulance.
There was light snow at the time the plane crashed. The Civil Air Patrol and Air Force Rescue helped in the search and found the crash site about 2 this morning.
Lt. Col. Sean Johnson with the Civil Air Patrol said the CAP received some information from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center to help locate the airplane.
"They gave us an analysis of the radar track," Johnson said. "Based on that analysis, and I'm not saying this is what happened, bout at around 14,000 feet the aircraft appeared to have broken up."
Johnson said the cell-phone forensic information was very accurate, and helped pinpoint where the ground teams from the Morton County Sheriff's Office were sent to search.
Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeyer says the twin engine Cessna crashed in rough terrain not easily accessible by vehicles.
"We did get that it was at an altitude where radar and the Bismarck tower lost contact with it," Kirchmeyer said.
Federal investigators have been sent to the scene. Names won’t be released until relatives are notified.
