The remains of two school teachers from Wisconsin and Illinois who went missing after a plane crash in Panama have been recovered.
Panama’s civil aviation authority said the search and rescue team and the joint task force recovered two bodies after more than 690 hours of searching.
The families of Debra Velleman from Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Sue Borries from Teutopolis, Illinois, released a joint statement on Tuesday.
“Our families welcome, with a tremendous sense of relief and gratitude, the news out of Panama this morning that our loved ones - Sue Borries and Deb Velleman - have been recovered,” the families said, reported ABC7’s Chicago news channel.
The two retired school teachers were travelling on a plane on 3 January from Isla Contadora to Panama mainland’s Punta Chame when the aircraft crashed.
Family members of the deceased have said the failure of the small plane’s engine led it to crash off the coast of Chame.
Five people were aboard the plane, including Borries and Velleman. The three others included a Canadian pilot, Velleman’s husband and another passenger.
The authorities were able to rescue the three, but could not locate the two school teachers who were believed to be in the unrecovered plane wreckage.
Velleman’s son, Jake Velleman, said the families did not receive substantial help from the US government in finding the women, but said the Panamanian authorities were working on the air and on ground to trace the missing expats.
According to a statement released by the families, the Panama administration has asked the US to deploy Navy salvage divers and sonar to speed up search efforts and locate the wreckage.
The request was, however, denied due to a lack of assets and jurisdiction, the families said, according to ABC news.
The family has thanked the nonprofit volunteer search and recovery organisation Bruce’s Legacy for providing their expertise.
One of the rescued passengers and Velleman’s husband, Anthony Velleman, was flown back to Wisconsin and had to undergo multiple surgeries, the report added.
A family representative said the two families are now working on bringing the recovered remains back to the US.
