SEATTLE – Autumn Veatch, the sole survivor of a small plane crash in the mountains of Central Washington, was released from the hospital in Brewster on Tuesday evening and has returned home.
Veatch, 16, hiked to safety Monday after the crash and was picked up by some hikers. The Okanogan County Sheriff's Office said Veatch told them her grandparents, Leland and Sharon Bowman, did not survive.
The hikers drove Veatch 30 miles east to a general store in Mazama, where employees called 911.
Officials released the 911 call on Tuesday.
Veatch: "I was riding from Kalispell Montana to Bellingham Washington and about… I don't know where but we crashed and I was the only one that made it out. "
911: "Made it out from the collision or survived?
Veatch: "Yeah. The only one that survived."
911: "Are you injured at all?"
Veatch: "Yeah. I have a lot of burns on my hands and I'm kind of covered in bruises and scratches and stuff."
Search crews looking for the plane located wreckage this Tuesday evening in the general area of where Veatch emerged from the woods Monday near Mazama.
WSDOT says crews have not been able to reach the crash site, and at this time no identification has been made of either the plane or the two remaining occupants.
The plane was headed from Kalispell, Mont., to Bellingham, Wash., when it disappeared Sunday.
Veatch told authorities they were flying in the clouds until the sky suddenly opened up to a mountain and they crashed into the trees.
"The report that we're getting from the survivor was that at some point during the flight the clouds came in and the pilot lost visual contact with the terrain and he aircraft collided with the mountain," said Jeffery Lustick with Civil Air Patrol. "To have a survivor come through this is... it's just a miracle."
Veatch said she stayed at the crash site for a day before hiking down. Veatch then walked for miles in the wilderness, following streams which led her to the East Pass trail. She managed to reach Highway 20, where she was spotted and picked up by motorists. They drove 30 miles east to a general store in Mazama, where employees called 911.
Medics transported her to Three Rivers Hospital in Brewster. She was released on Tuesday evening.
Rick LeDuc, owner of the Mazama store, says the teen was pretty traumatized when she arrived at his store. He says he knows the terrain in the region quite well and describes it as the most rugged part of the Cascades. One of his employees is a certified EMT and was able to calm the teen down before she went to the hospital.
"I think it made everybody feel good that they were able to help and that somebody was able to survive," said LeDuc. "It's pretty miraculous she was able to do what she did."
The teen's father, David Veatch, made the drive from Bellingham to Brewster Monday night to be reunited with his daughter. He said she was a little banged up, a little dehydrated and exhausted after days without sleep hiking through the woods.
The teen credits her father's love of survivor-type shows with teaching her a few tips on how to make it through days of hiking through rough and mountainous terrain.
"She's just an amazing kid," said David Veatch. "She's very gifted. There's more to her than she knows. I keep trying to tell her that, but she doesn't believe me. Maybe now she'll understand what I see."
"I'll tell you this, from all of us here, we're just impressed with her," said Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers. "She's kinda like a super hero. Just amazing us what she went through, especially at 16. Enough for an adult, but at 16, its pretty impressive."
