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Prominent Idaho executives, kids among 9 killed in South Dakota plane crash

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota – Nine people were killed in a plane crash near Chamberlain, South Dakota, on Saturday afternoon.

An eastern Idaho family of 12 visited the state for a weekend hunting trip, but the Pilatus PC-12 crashed around 12:30 p.m. shortly after taking off from Chamberlain, according to Peter Knudson with the National Transportation Safety Board. The ages of the passengers ranged from 7 to 81.

Among the victims were Jim Hansen Sr. and his sons, Kirk and Jim Hansen Jr., and six other family members. 

The crash also killed Kirk Hansen’s children, Stockton and Logan; his sons-in-law, Kyle Taylor and Tyson Dennert; and Jim Hansen’s son, Jake, and grandson, Houston, said Travis Garza, president of the wellness company Kyäni, in a Facebook post Sunday

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The Hansens were prominent members of the Idaho Falls community as executives with petroleum and oil vendor Conrad & Bischoff, Kyäni and gas station chain KJ’s Super Stores, according to East Idaho News.

The airplane was registered to Conrad and Bischoff Inc. of Idaho Falls, according to FAA records.

Chamberlain plane crash:Idaho family visited SD for hunting trip, reports say

Three people were injured in the crash and are in stable condition at a hospital. The three survivors are Josh Hansen, Kirk Hansen's son; Matt Hansen, Jim Hansen Jr.'s son; and Thomas Long, Jim Hansen Jr.'s son-in-law, according to Garza's Facebook post.

Weather appears to have been a main factor in the crash, Brule County emergency manager Katheryn Benton said. She said planes were unable to land in Chamberlain at the time of the crash. 

The cause of the crash has not been released, Knudson said, but Chamberlain and central south-central South Dakota were under a winter storm warning at the time.

The FAA hasn't said who was the pilot of the plane, but Kirk Hansen is a certified private pilot, according to FAA records.

Chamberlain is about 140 miles west of Sioux Falls in central South Dakota. 

Contributing: The Associated Press

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