A plane crashed 15 miles northwest of Buffalo on Thursday, killing two people on board and starting a fire in the Bighorn National Forest, according to a news release from the Johnson County Sheriff's Office on Sunday.

On Friday, the Sheriff's Office received a call from air traffic control in Salt Lake City about a missing aircraft. The plane left the Powell, Wyoming, Municipal Airport, about noon Thursday with two people on board enroute to Buffalo.

The plane did not arrive at the Johnson County Airport.

County dispatch called the airport and confirmed the plane had not arrived.

Soon after that, the Sheriff's Office received a report from the U.S. Forest Service that their firefighters had been called to a fire and had located airplane wreckage near the Middle Fork of Rock Creek in a remote area of the Bighorn National Forest. It appeared that the crash was the cause of the fire.

At 9 p.m. Friday, members of the Sheriff's Office, Johnson County Search and Rescue, Forest Service, and the Johnson County Coroner's Office met with the Forest Service firefighters to gather details about the wreckage.

Forest Service personnel said there were no survivors and remains were unidentifiable.

Because of the time, remote location. an active fire in that area and hazardous conditions, a team would be sent to the area early, and access to the area would most likely be on foot

At 5:30 a.m. Saturday, a team on foot left Buffalo for the crash site.

It arrived about 9:30 a.m., and reported the aircraft had no identifiable markings and there were no survivors

Members of the Sheriff's Office, Johnson County Search and Rescue, Forest Service and the Coroner's Office took the victims' remains to the Johnson County Coroner's Office for identification.

Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary Notice to Air Missions, saying no pilots may operate aircraft in a five-mile radius around the crash site.

Notice to Air Missions. Courtesy Federal Aviation Administration.
Notice to Air Missions. Courtesy Federal Aviation Administration.
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As this is an active investigation, no additional details will be provided at this time.

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