U.S. Teen Sole Survivor of Panama Plane Crash

December 26, 2007 · Filed Under World News

A California teenager, the only survivor of a plane crash that killed three people, is getting medical treatment in Panama.

Authorities found the bodies of pilot Edwin Lasso, American businessman Michael Klein and Klein’s 13-year-old daughter, Talia, about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a statement posted on the Web site of Panama’s civil protection agency.

The survivor, Talia’s 13-year-old friend Francesca Lewis, was rushed to the hospital and is being treated for various injuries and hypothermia.

Klein, a 37-year-old hedge fund manager, was vacationing with the two girls when they took the flight Sunday to photograph a volcano in the Chiriqui province, about 285 miles west of Panama City.

Authorities think the small single-engine Cessna ran into bad weather.