Stehekin plane crash victims drowned

Autopsies on two people who drowned in a float plane crash on Lake Chelan show they had injuries that may have prevented them from escaping the upside-down plane.

Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris says Roberta Pitts and William Stifter both suffered multiple fractured ribs, and Stifter had internal injuries from an impact to his chest.

Stifter was a 64-year-old heart surgeon from Spokane, and the 67-year-old Pitts was the retired superintendent of the one-room school at Stehekin (stuh-HEE'-kin).

They were passengers in the plane that flipped Saturday on landing at Stehekin after a 15-minute charter flight from the town of Chelan.

The pilot and two other passengers made it out of the plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.

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Information from: The Wenatchee World, http://www.wenworld.com