The wreckage of a plane that went missing on a flight from Alberta has been found in the U.S. All four men aboard were killed.
The four passengers have been identified as Bill Kaupp, 64, his son Clint, 28, and two family friends, Tim Mueller and Ron McKenzie.
The four men were travelling to New Mexico so that Bill Kaupp could look for a new plane, his son, Jon Kaupp, told CTV Calgary.
The aircraft, a Piper Lance built in 1976, took off from Alberta Wednesday, but poor weather forced it to land in Grand Junction, Colo.
On Thursday morning, the plane took off again en route to Albuquerque, N.M. On Friday, search-and-rescue crews detected a signal from an emergency transmitter near the state line between Colorado and Utah.
Wreckage of the missing aircraft was eventually found Friday afternoon in eastern San Juan County, Utah.
The Kaupp family confirmed the deaths in a social media post Friday.
“With a heavy heart I must announce that the plane has been located with no survivors. In the future I will talk about how great the four people that we lost were to everyone that knew them, but for now we are going to grieve," the family said in a Twitter message.
The family learned the news from RCMP and police officials in the U.S., said Jamie Metzger, the daughter of Bill Kaupp, one of the men on board.
"We are heartbroken," she said. "We have lost four amazing men."
With files from CTV Calgary and The Canadian Press
