Girl Survives Icy Night After Plane Crash Kills 6

A 13-year-old Stockton girl--the only survivor of a weekend plane crash that killed six people, including her parents--huddled in the wreckage for 12 hours in freezing temperatures before she was rescued, police said Sunday.

The girl, whose name was not released, was flown by helicopter to Valley Hospital in Las Vegas after police search-and-rescue units found the wreckage about 7 a.m. Sunday. She was in fair condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit with a fractured vertebra, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The pilot of the single-engine Cessna 206 had radioed the control tower at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas about 7 p.m. Saturday to report that the plane was running out of fuel about 25 miles south of the gambling center. The plane was en route from Stockton to Las Vegas, police said.

The McCarran tower tried to guide the aircraft to land on Interstate 15, but the aircraft’s radio went silent and the plane disappeared from radar scopes.

A Metropolitan Police helicopter tried to find the aircraft Saturday night, but rain, mist and light snow reduced visibility to near zero.

The wreckage was found by ground teams at a 4,500-foot elevation in rugged terrain near a dry desert lake 20 miles north of the California state line.

The plane’s engine and propeller were driven into the passenger compartment, killing everyone except the teen-ager. She was in the back near the tail section, which remained intact after the plane slammed nose-first into a mountain.

Rescuers said the temperature was about 37 when the wreckage was discovered and had dropped below freezing during the night.

Identities of the dead were withheld pending notification of relatives.