June 1 (UPI) — Officials said rescuers have found the remains of seven people aboard a small plane that crashed into a Tennessee lake over the weekend.
Rutherford County said in a statement Monday officials had discovered more human remains in Percy Priest Lake near Nashville, where a Cessna Citation 501 with seven people on board crashed after takeoff from Smyrna airport before 11 a.m. Saturday.
Officials said human remains had been found on Sunday and that dive teams would continue the search.
On Monday, the county said its medical examiner’s office “can now confidently verify that there are seven individuals, four males and three females.”
“Rutherford County Medical Examiner’s Office, working in partnership with Middle Tennessee Regional Forensic Center, are working with the victim’s families to identify those human remains biologically and scientifically,” the county said.
Authorities said both engines and a “significant portion” of the jet’s fuselage were also able to be recovered during the two-day search.
The passengers of the plane have been identified as actor Joe Lara and his wife, Gwen Shamblin Lara, and her son-in-law Brandon Hannah, Jennifer and David Martin and Jonathan and Jessica Walters, all leaders of the Remnant of the Kingdom of God Fellowship Church in Brentwood, Tenn.
The county said crews will continue to dive to locate and retrieve components of the crash, stating weather and boat traffic had expanded the debris field.
Joe Lara was an actor best known for his role as Tarzan in the TV series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures that ran from 1996 to 2000 and in the 1989 TV movie Tarzan in Manhattan, according to IMDB.
Gwen Shamblin Lara founded Weight Down Ministries, a Christian weight loss program.
