By MATT PIKE
One person is dead after an agricultural plane went down in Holt County on Monday night.
The Holt County Sheriff's Office reports that just after 9pm on Monday an emergency call came in that an Air Tractor agricultural plane had possibly gone down in the area of 34845 Unity Road. Several law enforcement agencies assisted the Sheriff's Office in searching for the area for just over six hours, with no success.
After the search was called off late Monday night, it resumed Tuesday morning, and the plane was quickly located from the air. Upon locating the plane, the pilot 23 year old Cael David Schmitz was found in the cockpit and pronounced dead at the scene.
The South Holt Fire Department, the Missouri Department of Conservation, Andrew County Sheriff’s Office, Law Enforcement personnel and first responders directly across the Missouri River in Kansas, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and private citizens assisted the Holt County Sheriff's Office.
The plane was left on the scene and investigation into the cause of the accident and Schmitz's death is ongoing.
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