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Muscatine man killed in plane crash

A man from Muscatine, Iowa was among those killed when a small plane crashed in southeast Kansas Friday, May 11, 2012. The eight-passenger plane, a Cessna 401, ...

A man from Muscatine, Iowa was among those killed when a small plane crashed in southeast Kansas Friday, May 11, 2012.

The eight-passenger plane, a Cessna 401, reportedly went down around 4:30 p.m. northwest of Chanute, Kansas.  The pilot had reportedly been granted permission to descend to a lower altitude and then lost contact with air traffic control.

Stephen Luth, 22, recently graduated from Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma.  He was one of five people on the plane, bound for an “Acquire the Fire” Christian youth rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, when it crashed.

Luth graduated from Muscatine High School in 2008. 

The other fatalities in the plane crash were pilot Luke Sheets, 23, of Ephraim, Wisconsin; Austin Anderson, 27, of Ringwood, Oklahoma and Garrett Coble, 29, of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Luth, Sheets and Coble were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.  Anderson died Saturday morning at a hospital in Wichita, Kansas.

Sheets reportedly had a commercial pilot’s license. 

Hanna Luce, 22, of Garden Valley, Texas, was the only survivor.  She reportedly suffered burns over approximately 30% of her body and was hospitalized in the burn unit at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.  She was last listed in serious condition but expected to recover from her injuries.  She reportedly had surgery scheduled for Monday, May 14.

Oral Roberts University President Mark Rutland said Luth, Sheets and Anderson were recent graduates from the university and that Coble was a former business instructor at the school. 

Hannah Luce was reportedly also a recent graduate of the school. Her father reportedly founded Teen Mania Ministries, the organization which was sponsoring the youth rally to which the group was headed when the plane crashed.  He has posted updates about the crash and Hannah’s condition on  Facebook at this link: https://www.facebook.com/RonLuce

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