Two Hope College students, including a 20-year-old woman from St. Charles, died when their single-engine airplane crashed in southwestern Michigan Sunday morning.
The college said the plane, rented from an air service in Holland, Mich., radioed a distress signal to the Muskegon County Airport's control tower shortly before crashing in a cornfield south of the airport around 11:30 a.m.
The college identified the students as Emma Biagioni, 20, from St. Charles and David Otai, 23, an exchange student from Kenya.
The airport had been tracking the plane on radar, then lost contact over the Saugatuck area in Allegan County, according to a statement from the Allegan County sheriff's office.
Rescue workers used four-wheel-drive-vehicles to reach the crash site, where they found the two trapped in wreckage, authorities said, adding that both were pronounced dead at the scene. Crews reported that the search for the plane was hampered by dense fog.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
Biagioni had graduated from St. Charles East High School and was a political science major, according to the college. She was "deeply Christian" and involved in numerous campus organizations, said Richard Frost, Hope's dean of students and Biagioni's former advisor.
"She gave so much of herself," he said. "It was never about Emma; it was always about how Emma could help someone else."
Biagioni was also a national news editor for the student newspaper, The Anchor. Karen Patterson, co-editor of the paper, said Biagioni was "without a doubt one of the nicest, sweetest people you could ever meet."
Otai was captain of an intramural soccer team and volunteered for the men's varsity team. He was a licensed pilot and had rented the plane from Tulip City Air Service, authorities and the college said. Otai had logged many hours flying and would often ask other students to fly with him, Frost said.
Biagioni studied abroad in Japan last spring and likely struck up a friendship with Otai through various multicultural organizations they were involved with on campus, Frost said.
A memorial service for the two was held Sunday evening in Dimnent Memorial Chapel at the college. About 1,200 people attended. Since the crash, a "soberness" has enveloped the campus as students try to make sense of the tragedy, Frost said.
"There's been lots of tears," Frost said. "It's really hard for students to come to grips with the loss. They're looking at life differently today than they did 24 hours ago."
-- Gerry Smith
