Three killed in plane crash along Iditarod route

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Officials in Alaska say three people, including a child, have been found dead in the wreckage of a small airplane that crashed along the route of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The Cessna 182 left Anchorage on Monday for Takotna, a village on the route of the Iditarod.

A spokeswoman for Alaska Air National Guard says aerial searchers spotted the wreckage at the 4,000-foot level of Rainy Pass. A crew landed and located the bodies.

Alaska State Troopers identified those killed as 59-year-old pilot Ted Smith, 48-year-old Carolyn Sorvoja and 10-year-old Rosemarie Sorvoja, all residents of suburban Anchorage.

According to CBS affiliate KTVA, the Sorvojas were not official Iditarod volunteers, but a spokesperson for the family said they were headed out to Takotna to help out on their own time.

Smith had spent 29 years with APD before retiring in 2011. His colleagues remember a passionate career police officer who dedicated his time to modernizing APD's firearms training program, the station reports.