Official: Miracle she survived
SEATTLE — A 16-year-old girl survived a small plane crash in the rugged mountains of north-central Washington state and then hiked through thick forest to reach safety in what one official called “a miracle.” But searchers were still looking for the plane wreckage and her two stepgrandparents, who were also on board.
There was no official word on the status of the older couple, identified as Leland and Sharon Bowman of Marion, Mont.
Navy helicopters searched for the wreckage until late Monday, several hours after planes suspended their efforts. The search was to resume today, weather permitting, said Barbara LaBoe, a Washington state Transportation Department spokesman.
David Veatch of Bellingham, the father of survivor Autumn Veatch, told reporters outside a hospital late Monday his daughter was exhausted but doing remarkably well.
She was able to joke with him about all the survival shows they watched together on television, he said.
“She’s just an amazing kid,” he said. “There’s more to her than she knows.”
The teen has no life-threatening injuries but was dehydrated and suffering from a type of treatable muscle tissue breakdown caused by vigorous exercise without food or water, Three Rivers Hospital CEO Scott Graham said. She was kept at the hospital overnight for hydration and rest.
“It’s a miracle, no question about it, “ Lt. Col. Jeffrey Lustick of the Civil Air Patrol, who said he has spent 30 years in search and rescue, told reporters after the girl was found Monday — two days after the plane left Montana. “Moments of joy like this can be hard to find.”
The Beech A-35 left Kalispell, Mont., Saturday afternoon headed for Lynden, Wash. Leland Bowman was issued a private pilot license in 2011, and the plane, manufactured in 1949, was registered to him, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
