BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Two people were found dead at a crash site south of Boulder Monday morning following an extensive search and rescue operation involving dozens of crews after a plane was last spotted by radar in the Eldorado Springs area Sunday evening.
During a news conference Monday morning, county sheriff officials said they received a report of the possible downed aircraft at 9:42 p.m. on Sunday from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
"At that point in time, rescuers were sent out to try to locate the possible crash site. They've been doing that overnight, and again, they just restarted that effort again just a little while ago," said Boulder County Sheriff's Office spokesman Vinnie Montez earlier in the day.
Boulder County provided an update later in the day about the crash. Watch it in the video below:
The missing plane — a private, single-engine fixed-wing aircraft — flew out of Longmont Airport, Montez said, though information about where the plane was headed or details about its tail number were not immediately available.
At around 10:15 a.m., a MedEvac helicopter and the Civil Air Patrol found the crash site of the missing aircraft north of Eldorado Canyon State Park and south of the Flatirons, deputies said in a news release later Monday. Rescuers reached the crash site at around noon.
"Two individuals were located deceased, and no survivors were found," deputies said.
Montez said a temporary flight restriction was in effect for that area, and those restrictions were expected to be lifted sometime Tuesday.
"We just want to ask the public: Please don't come into the area around El Dorado Springs or in the areas that I've previously described and fly any personal aviation aircraft or drones," he said. "It will jeopardize any other operations that are going with our drone operations in the area."
Watch Monday's earlier news conference from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office in the video below:
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the National Transportation Safety Board, will be conducting the investigation which will be led by the NTSB, deputies said.
The Boulder County Coroner’s Office is also conducting an independent investigation to determine the cause and manner of death of the two individuals. Their names will be released following positive identification and notification to family members, deputies said.
Besides the sheriff’s office, Boulder County Emergency Services, Rocky Mountain rescue, Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks Rangers, Colorado Search and Rescue association, medevac, and civil air patrol are all included in the search and rescue operation, Montez said.
