clockThis article was published more than 19 years ago
Sheriff's deputies searched for the boy all day Sunday and most of Monday before his body was found under the shattered fuselage of the CL-601 Challenger jet that exploded into flames just off the runway of Montrose's small airport Sunday morning.
"We recovered a body that matches the description of Teddy Ebersol," Montrose County Coroner Mark Young told reporters Monday night. "It was under the aircraft. Out of respect for the family, I'm not going to discuss the condition."
Pilot Luis Espaillat and co-pilot Warren Richardson III also were killed in the crash. A third crew member was in "very critical condition" in the burn ward of a Denver hospital, Young said.
Witnesses told reporters that Charles Ebersol, 21, stumbled away from the plane and then walked back into the wreckage to lead his father to safety.
Dick Ebersol, 57, who oversaw the network's coverage of the Olympics, suffered broken ribs, a broken sternum and fluid in his lungs, according to an NBC source.
Charles Ebersol, a student at the University of Notre Dame, broke his hand and suffers from a sore back, the NBC official said. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the network did not release an official statement, confirmed that Ebersol was rescued from the crash site by his son Charlie.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators, delayed by the heavy snow that swept southwestern Colorado on Sunday and Monday, began their study of the accident late Monday.
Last night, NBC released a statement saying, "Dick Ebersol and his son Charlie are both hospitalized in stable condition and are expected to make a full recovery."
Witnesses offered conflicting versions of what happened. One said the plane took off in a snowstorm, crashed to the ground and burst into flames. Another witness reported seeing the plane skid sideways along the runway, suggesting it might have been blown over by gusting winds before takeoff. Photos taken by witnesses show the shattered plane, amid dense flames, a few dozen feet from the end of the runway.
An FAA spokesman said that, because of the poor weather, the pilot of the Ebersol charter requested assistance from air traffic control before takeoff to ensure the plane would be clear of any traffic in the air. The FAA said it could not confirm when the controller in Denver granted the request.
A spokesman for the NTSB said the pilot declined an offer to have the plane's wings de-iced before takeoff. Investigators recovered the plane's cockpit recorder today and said they would study it to learn whether ice on the wings was a factor in the crash.
Ebersol and his wife, the actress Susan Saint James, and the sons had attended the Notre Dame-Southern California football game in California on Saturday, sources said. They flew to the Montrose airport on Sunday morning to leave Saint James at the family's mountain home in Telluride, Colo. The charter jet then was scheduled to take Charles Ebersol back to Notre Dame and continue to the East Coast with Edward and his father. Montrose County officials said they had carefully searched the wreckage and the low, snow-covered hills surrounding the runway all day Sunday but found no trace of Edward Ebersol until 5 p.m. Monday.
Shapiro reported from Washington. Staff writer Sara Kehaulani Goo in Washington contributed to this report.
