NEAR CORRECTIONVILLE, Iowa (KTIV) -
Two men are dead and another seriously injured after a plane crash near Correctionville.
The fog was so thick and visibilities so bad, that you could barely see in front of you. It made things incredibly difficult for emergency responders trying to make it to the crash site.
When fire crews arrived, they probably didn't know they were trying to save one of their own.
That heavy fog engulfed the roads of Woodbury County on Saturday night, bringing visibilities in some spots, down to zero.
"My son and son-in-law and son are both on the fire department here in Anthon. They said it was bad, really bad, last night," said Mike Berning, former fire chief in Anthon.
Flying in the dense fog, was a plane piloted by 70-year old Gaylen Knaack. Around 8 p.m., the Sheriff's Department says his plane crashed into a field near Highway 31, about 2.5 miles south of Correctionville.
"Appeared to be serious injuries according to the people on the scene," said Boetger.
Knaack was transported by Mercy Medical Center and then on to the Saint Elizabeth Burn Center in Lincoln, Neb.
"I believe they transported him by ground. I believe the fog didn't allow for the helicopter to fly out," said Boetger.
Authorities shut Highway 31 down overnight, after an ambulance responding to the scene crashed into a patrol car. After the fog cleared, Federal Aviation Investigators found bent trees and scattered debris across a harvested field.
Fifty-three year old Lee Schroeder of Oto, a volunteer firefighter for Anthon, was one of two men to die in the crash.
"I'd known him from in the early '70s. He worked with my wife in a local elevator here in Oto," said Berning.
The second passenger was 55-year old James Smith of Correctionville. Berning knew all three men.
"In a small area like this, we don't say anything, because it just don't seem possible," said Berning.
In about a week, Berning says Schroeder was going to be Santa Claus for a community festival.
Knaack is listed in critical condition. The plane was heading from Grand Island, Neb., to a private air strip just south of Little Sioux Park in Correctionville.
Two men are dead and another seriously injured after a plane crash near Correctionville.
