7-year-old plane crash survivor 'fell out of the sky'

When the small plane crashed into the woods, seven-year-old Sailor Gutzler called out to her family. No one responded.

She thought they might be knocked out, or possibly dead. Either way, police said, she knew she needed to get help.

So, bleeding and alone, Sailor, dressed in a short-sleeve shirt, shorts and one sock, walked more than a kilometre in near-freezing temperatures through thick brier patches and woods before she found Larry Wilkins's home. She knocked on the door, and he answered to find a thin, black-haired girl, whimpering and trembling.

"She literally fell out of the sky into a dark hole and didn't have anybody but her own will to live and get help for her family," Kentucky Police Lt. Brent White said. "Absolutely amazing."

'One sock, no shoes'

Wilkins said the girl had a "bloody nose, bloody arms, bloody legs, one sock, no shoes, crying."

"She told me that her mom and dad were dead, and she had been in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down," Wilkins said.

Federal Aviation Administration officials arrived at the crash scene Saturday to try to determine why the small Piper PA-34 crashed on Friday evening, killing four people, including the girl's parents, Marty Gutzler, 48, and his wife, Kimberly Gutzler, 46, authorities said.

Four people were killed when a small Piper PA-34 crashed near Kentucky Lake, a popular tourist attraction in the southwestern part of the state. (CBC)

Also killed were Sailor's sister Piper Gutzler, 9; and cousin Sierra Wilder, 14. All were from Nashville, Illinois.

The plane reported engine trouble and lost contact with air traffic controllers around 5:55 p.m. local time, authorities said. Controllers tried to direct the pilot to an airport about 10 km from the crash scene.

About 40 minutes later, 911 dispatchers received a call from Wilkins.

Wilkins said he brought the girl inside, got a washcloth and "washed her little face off and her legs."

"Brave little girl, outstanding little girl," he said. "I feel real bad for her."

The girl had a broken wrist, but was coherent and calm when interviewed by authorities, White said.

White and Wilkins both described the terrain she walked through as heavily wooded with thick brush. White said the girl traversed two embankments, a hill and a creek bed. Wilkins said the temperatures were near 0 C when the girl showed up at his door.

The girl was treated at a hospital and released to a relative, police said.

In Nashville, a man stepped outside the family's white, split-level home on Saturday and politely waved off a reporter.

"Not now," he said, his head lowered, before he stepped back inside.

Neighbours said Marty and Kim Gutzler had lifelong roots in the largely rural southern Illinois town about 80 kilometres east of St. Louis.

Ran furniture store

Marty ran the furniture store that his father started, and the couple was well-known and well-liked, said neighbour Carla Povolish.

With two basketball hoops in the driveway, the Gutzlers's home was the centre of neighbourhood fun on a block full of children.

"All the kids in the neighbourhood are just so upset about this," she said.

Marty Gutzler, 48, and Kimberly Gutzler, 46, along with their nine-year-old Piper Gutzler and her 14-year-old cousin Sierra Wilder, were killed in a plane crash in Kentucky. (Facebook)

Povolish said the two sisters — Sailor and Piper — were together constantly.

"That's what's going to be so devastating for the little one," she said.

The FAA said late Friday that the plane had taken off from Tallahassee Regional Airport, Fla.,, and was bound for Mount Vernon, Illinois. Sailor told police the family had been to Key West, Fla.

Attorney Kent Plotner, who was serving as family spokesman, said the Gutzler family was devastated.

"We ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time. Please pray for us, especially for Sailor Gutzler," the family said in a statement.

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