Pennsylvania

Phone, iPad Pings Lead to Dad, Daughter Who Survived Plane Crash in Pocono Woods

Emergency responders called it a miracle

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What to Know

  • Personal electronic devices helped lead rescuers to a father and daughter who survived a plane crash in Pennsylvania.
  • State police say the aircraft had taken off from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport and headed back toward the Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport on Sunday night before it went down in a wooded area in Bear Creek Township.
  • Authorities asked the U.S. Air Force to help with the search and they pinged the 58-year-old dad’s cellphone and 13-year-old daughter’s iPad to locate them. State troopers found them huddled together suffering from hypothermia.

Personal electronic devices helped lead rescuers to a father and daughter who survived a plane crash in the the Pocono Mountain area in Pennsylvania, authorities said.

According to state police, the aircraft had taken off from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport and headed back toward the Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport on Sunday night when it went down in a wooded area of Luzerne County. The FAA said the plane had disappeared from radar after a rapid descent.

Authorities asked the U.S. Air Force to help with the search and they pinged the 58-year-old dad's cellphone and 13-year-old daughter's iPad to locate them. Firefighters called the terrain in the area "rugged."

It took hours before state troopers found them huddled together suffering from hypothermia.

Emergency responders called it a miracle.

"The daughter saves both of them by using her iPad and dad was cuddling the daughter to give her warmth because they were both exposed to the elements," Pennsylvania Police Sgt. John Richards said.

They were taken to a hospital. Their conditions were not known and their names were not released.

Authorities were investigating what caused their plane to crash.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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