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Title: Small Aircraft Crashes in South Dakota, Killing Wyoming Man WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) - A 25-year-old Wyoming man died when a small aircraft crashed into a slough about seven miles south of Watertown in northeast South Dakota.

The pilot's name was unavailable pending family notification and further investigation of the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration expected to begin its investigation Thursday.

Local officials recovered the body from the shattered and crumpled wreckage of the plane just off the western shoreline of a large slough in Hamlin County.

The Huron flight center reported a single-engine Cessna missing at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, said Hamlin County Sheriff Dan Mack.

A witness reported the plane going down about that same time, the sheriff said.

The plane had taken off in Sioux Falls and was headed to Watertown, said Mack.

Officials said the aircraft was based in Watertown, but no identifying numbers or even the aircraft type were discernible in the wreckage, which was in two to three feet of water about 20 feet off shore.

The body was recovered shortly after midnight by Codington County Search and Dive Rescue Team members. They waded into wreckage-strewn water to search by flashlight and vehicle headlights.

Light rain and drizzle fell at the crash scene, but almost no wind blew at ground level under the late night cloud cover.

Officials at the scene said they were notified by nearby rural residents who reported they had heard the crash.

A resident heard the plane's engine laboring and it appeared to be turning just before going down, Mack said. The witness heard an explosion and then it was quiet, he said.

http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/WYO/SDPlaneCrash.html

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), April 27, 2000