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Plane crash kills 5 Jehovah's Witness Clerics

By Times Wires
Published September 3, 2007

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn.

A plane carrying five Jehovah's Witness ministers crashed in a remote area of eastern Tennessee, killing all aboard, officials said. The crash, which happened around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, wasn't discovered until more than eight hours later, when another pilot spotted the wreckage. Authorities had to clear a path Sunday to get to the crash site in the Cherokee National Forest on Holston Mountain. Five bodies were found, said Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes. One of the ministers was believed to be the pilot, he said. Robert Burpitt, an elder with the Woodland Heights congregation of Jehovah's Witness in Kingsport, said the ministers were all from East Tennessee and members of a regional building committee that makes decisions regarding Kingdom Hall building projects. The names of the ministers were not released. "All of the congregations in this region are devastated by this news, and will continue to keep the families in their prayers," he said.

PHOENIX

Teen dies in fall into mine shaft

A 13-year-old girl who fell into a brush-covered mine shaft while riding an all-terrain vehicle was found dead at the bottom Sunday, and her 10-year-old sister was rescued with serious injuries, authorities said. The girls, 13-year-old Rikki Howard and 10-year-old Casie Hicks, were out for a holiday weekend ride around 7 p.m. Saturday when their father, who was riding ahead of them on a dirt bike, noticed the girls were missing. "They were driving along and they went into the mine. It was a total accident," Mohave County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Sandy Edwards said. The mine, believed to be inactive, was next to a dirt road, concealed by brush and with no signs or barriers. It was not immediately clear who owned the mine.

WASHINGTON

Longtime nuclear commissioner dies

Edward McGaffigan Jr., 58, the longest-serving member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, died Sunday after a lengthy battle with metastatic melanoma, a form of skin cancer, the agency said. He died at the Capital Hospice in Arlington, Va. He was appointed to the NRC, which regulates the nuclear industry, in 1996 and again in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. He was nominated for a third term by President Bush in 2005. His death reduced the five-member commission to three members.

Elsewhere

Lake Elsinore, Calif.: A 4.7-magnitude earthquake shook Riverside County on Sunday, authorities said. It was centered 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Santa Barbara, Calif.:A wildfire that has been burning for two months in Los Padres National Forest was fully contained on Sunday, officials said.

[Last modified September 3, 2007, 00:35:05]