The wreckage of a private plane that carried five men in January 1971 and disappeared after taking off in poor weather conditions has been found in Vermont’s Lake Champlain by a company that specializes in underwater searches.

Video footage, still photographs and high resolution scans were taken of the wreckage and debris on May 29, including what is said to be door panels, one of two engines and gauges and cockpit wiring bundles.

A search and rescue operation was launched immediately after the crash 53 years ago, but due to heavy winter weather the lake froze over, making underwater searches impossible at the time. This is according to a press release by Garry Kozak, who was responsible for spearheading the recent recovery.

Search operations resumed on May 1, 1971 once warmer weather thawed the lake, and carried on for two weeks but the wreckage was not located. At least 17 further searches would be made over five decades without any progress.

During the winter of 2023 Kozak analyzed old sonar data and identified a new potential crash location, 200 feet of water West of Juniper Island. A year later, in May 2024 he and a team returned to Lake Champlain with an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle that was dropped to the lake floor and which revealed the wreckage. - report from Reuters