Sailor Gutzler, the little 7-year-old sole survivor of the Kentucky plane crash, initially told emergency responders that she thought her parents, sister and cousin were dead — but that perhaps they were just “sleeping” among the wreckage, police said.
She reportedly made the statement after walking almost a mile through the woods in the dark, dressed in summer clothes and alone, to find help.
“She indicated she believed to us her family was deceased, but she hoped they were sleeping,” Lt. Brent White, with the Kentucky State Police, told the New York Post reported.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board are now hoping the little girl might be the clue to understanding what happened in the crash that only she survived.
“She is one remarkable young lady,” said NTSB investigator Heidi Moats, who said the agency was waiting to interview the girl and learn details of what happened, the New York Post said. “It gives us a storyline.”
The girl’s family, meanwhile, asked for privacy and said they were “devastated,” Fox News reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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