The North Dakota state Capitol has suffered a deeply tragic incident. A state senator met a devastating end in an airplane accident. What makes this tragedy even more heart-wrenching is that his wife and two youngest kids were also on board. On the evening of Sunday, October 1, Senator Doug Larsen (R-ND) was at the controls of a single-engine aircraft, accompanied by his wife, Amy, and their two youngest offspring. They departed from Moab, Utah’s Canyonlands Regional Airport slightly after 8 p.m. local time, but tragically, the plane crashed shortly after takeoff.
A bystander who witnessed the plane’s descent made an emergency call. The Grand County Sheriff’s Office released an official statement, reporting that their deputies, along with the Moab Valley Fire Department, Grand County EMS, Classic Air Medical, and the personnel from Canyonlands Regional Airport, swiftly arrived at the site. Sadly, there were no survivors among the occupants of the aircraft.
Monday saw North Dakota’s Majority Leader, David Hogue (R), conveying the sad news of Larsen’s passing via email to his fellow senators. In his message, Hogue mentioned that the Larsen family was on their way back home after a visit to relatives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The senator had made a stop in Utah to refuel. Hogue, grappling with the enormity of the tragedy, admitted uncertainty about when one begins to grieve in such heartbreaking circumstances. Nevertheless, he urged his colleagues to cherish their own families and offered words of encouragement for them to keep the grandparents and Larsen’s surviving stepchild in their thoughts and prayers.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is currently conducting an investigation into this tragic incident. An NTSB investigator arrived at the accident scene on Monday to commence the process of documenting the site. Governor Doug Burgum (R) issued a statement expressing his deep sorrow over Senator Larsen’s passing, describing it as a heart-wrenching event.
It’s worth noting that Larsen’s plane crash is not the only aviation accident in recent weeks. In mid-September, there was another incident involving US Rep. Mary Peltola’s husband, who was piloting a plane in Alaska when it went down. Tragically, Eugene Peltola Jr. lost his life in a remote part of the Alaskan wilderness. Subsequent reports indicated that the plane was carrying approximately 500 pounds of moose meat and antlers when the crash occurred.
