Crash Victims Identified as California Men, Czech Tourists
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SAN BERNARDINO — The four people killed in the crash of a light plane bringing them back from a weekend in Las Vegas have been identified as two California men and two Czech tourists, authorities said Thursday.
The single-engine Piper Cherokee Arrow went down Sunday in the foggy San Bernardino Mountains and the bodies were found in the wreckage two days later.
The San Bernardino County coroner identified them as pilot Karel Vondra, 28, of Long Beach; Ali Shahcheraghian, 32, of Davis; and Jaroslava Palounkova, 24, and Petr Mayer, 28, of the Czech Republic.
Mayer and Palounkova were holding four-month tourist visas and had been staying in Irvine, according to the coroner’s report.
Investigators said the four probably died on impact when the rented plane hit a mountain. They flew to Las Vegas last Friday and were returning to Brackett Field in La Verne.
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