ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Investigators are still trying to solve many questions behind a plane crash in Ontario that involved a University of Michigan student who is currently listed as missing.
Xin Rong, 27, a doctoral student from China studying artificial intelligence, is a certified pilot who flew out of Ann Arbor March 15 with Harbor Springs as his charted destination, investigators said.
After authorities were notified that the rented plane was long overdue for its return, they discovered the crash site in a forest near Manitouwadge, Ontario, just before midnight. Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada did not find a body in the plane. There were no footprints in the snow near the plane, and the passenger-side door was found unlatched.
“The door had been opened from the inside,” Transportation Safety investigator Peter Rowntree said.
Acting Staff Sgt. Peter Leon of the Ontario Provincial Police, which first discovered the crash, said he had never seen an incident like this before.
“I’ve been doing this 29 years and I can honestly never recall an investigation of this nature, where an aircraft has been located without… a pilot or an occupant of some sort,” he said.
Rong’s missing person investigation is still open, the Detroit Free Press (https://on.freep.com/2o05cVn ) reported.
University of Michigan officials have not responded to the newspaper’s questions on the disappearance.
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Information from: Detroit Free Press, https://www.freep.com
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