Searchers recovered two bodies Tuesday afternoon in the southeast metro from a Mississippi River island quarry, where a small airplane crashed this week with three people aboard, authorities said.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office said the bodies were recovered shortly after 1 p.m. from the watery quarry on Grey Cloud Island, two days after the plane went down.
The plane has yet to be retrieved from the quarry, and one person remains to be recovered.
The search for the plane began Sunday night. The aircraft departed from nearby South St. Paul Municipal Airport earlier in the day, said airport director Andrew Wall.
The wreckage was located in the privately owned quarry about 9 a.m. Monday.
Sheriff's Cmdr. Kyle Schenck said the wreckage remained submerged 50 to 100 feet below the surface as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Search operation conditions have been difficult because the walls of the 200-foot deep quarry are sand-based, the Sheriff's Office said.
Identities of the three aboard have yet to be released.
A relative who answered the phone at the home of the plane's owner declined to comment and explained that the pilot community is grieving right now.
