North Dakota State Senator Doug Larsen, his wife and two children die in a plane crash in Utah
- The accident occurred on Sunday evening around 8:30 p.m
- The cause of the crash is under investigation
It has been revealed that the four victims of a plane crash from Canyonlands Airfield in Utah on Sunday evening were a senator from North Dakota, his wife and their two young children.
Senator Doug Larsen’s death was confirmed Monday in an email sent by Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue to his fellow senators.
The small plane crashed after takeoff north of Moab on Sunday evening around 8:30 p.m.
“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children were killed in a plane crash in Utah last night,” Hogue wrote in the email. Larsen had a third stepchild who was not on the plane Sunday.
“They visited family in Scottsdale and returned home. They stopped in Utah to refuel.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
State Senator Doug Larsen and his wife Amy were two of the people killed when their small plane crashed in Utah on Sunday
The couple’s two small children were also killed. The family was reportedly returning to North Dakota from visiting family in Arizona
Canyonlands Regional Airport outside Moab, Utah, where the crash occurred Sunday evening
The four victims have not been identified by authorities pending notification of their families
Officials with the Grand County Sheriff’s Office said they received a report that the plane crashed Sunday around 8:30 p.m.
An Air Medical helicopter located the crashed aircraft while crews from the sheriff’s office, Moab Fire Department and emergency responders responded to the crash site.
In a brief statement released just after midnight Monday, the sheriff’s office said, “Rescue efforts have been completed.” Unfortunately, four occupants did not survive the accident. Further information will be provided once family members have been notified.
Initially, the office said it dispatched emergency responders after receiving a call for a witness who saw “a plane hit the ground shortly after takeoff from Canyonlands Airfield, north of Moab.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the single-engine Piper crash was under investigation.
The plane crashed about 15 miles outside of Moab, Utah – a tourist town of about 5,300 people near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.