Death Toll In Small Plane Crash Near Silverton Revised To 4, No Survivors

SILVERTON, Colo. (AP) - Aviation investigators said Tuesday that four people died when a twin-engine plane crashed in Colorado over the weekend, not five as they initially reported.

No one survived, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said.

The NTSB said Monday that five people were aboard, but Knudson said later that the agency had been given incorrect information.

The San Juan County Sheriff's Department identified the dead as pilot Harold Joseph Raggio of of Newberry Springs, California, and passengers Steven Dale Wilkinson of Newberry Springs, Rosalinda Leslie of Hesperia, California, and Michael Lyle Riley of Barstow, California.

The Cessna 310 was flying from Barstow to Amarillo, Texas, when it crashed Sunday in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, Knudson said.

The crash was about 150 miles north of a straight-line route from Barstow to Amarillo. Investigators don't know why the plane took that route, Knudson said.

The plane was reported missing Sunday, but investigators didn't confirm until Tuesday that it was the aircraft that crashed in Colorado.

An image of the search and rescue operation (credit: Durango Herald)

The crash site was in rugged terrain about 11,500 feet above sea level, Knudson said. An investigator decided against going to the site.

The wreckage was expected to be removed starting Thursday so the investigator can examine it.