Team hopes to recover plane, 5 bodies Thursday

A salvage team hopes to recover the bodies of five people and the wreckage of a single-engine airplane from a southwestern Colorado reservoir on Thursday afternoon if the weather is favorable.

Ouray County spokeswoman Marti Whitmore says divers expect to start work Thursday morning at Ridgway Reservoir, where the plane crashed Saturday.

Divers confirmed Monday the bodies of all five victims are still inside the wreckage. The Socata TBM700 is upside down and partially buried in silt under about 60 feet of water.

Authorities say the wreckage must be pulled to shore before they can safely remove the bodies.

Authorities haven’t released the victims’ names. But they said the flight originated in Gadsden, Ala., and was flying to Montrose, about 25 miles north of the reservoir.