As Minnesota and the nation mourn the loss of Sen. Paul Wellstone, an army of investigators and law enforcement continues to comb the scene where the plane he was on crashed on Friday morning, Wellstone, members of his family and his staff, died when the small plane they were traveling in crashed on approach to the Eveleth-Virginia municipal airport. Local and state officials say they have no idea what caused the deadly crash.

	The lack of downed trees or extensive marks on the ground near the plane indicate it crashed at a steep angle. See larger images. (MPR Photo/Mark Zdechlik)

Standing before a mass of reporters gathered in an aircraft hanger at the Eveleth-Virgina Municipal Airport, St. Louis County Sheriff Rick Wahlberg said it was shortly before 11 o'clock Friday morning when officials got the first report that the twin engine plane carrying Paul and Sheila Wellstone, their daughter Marcia, Minnesota DFL official Mary McEvoy, Wellstone staffers Tom Lapic, Will McLaughlin, pilot Capt. Richard Conry and co-pilot Michael Guess crashed near the Eveleth airport.

"The information that we first received is that the plane was making an approach into the Eveleth airport when something happened to it and it went down," according to Wahlberg.

Wahlberg says the wreckage in confined to a relatively small area of swampy rugged low land.

Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport assistant manager Gary Ulman was the first to spot the wreckage. Ulman says he and Duluth air traffic controllers became concerned 15 minutes after the plane radioed its final approach but never appeared.

Ulman says there was no indication the pilots were experiencing problems. Wellstone and others other were headed to Eveleth to attend a funeral mass for the father of state Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia.

Ulman says about a 30 minutes after the plane radioed its intent to land, he conducted an aerial search and quickly found the wreckage about two miles southeast of the airport.

"I saw a couple plumes of smoke; one coming from a chimney, the other was from this airplane, which I was assuming was another chimney but I figured I'd just go take a look at it; that was it. It just didn't seem right. This smoke was more of a bluish smoke and chimney smoke is a white. Initially I could see there was a main section of fire and another section of smaller fire," according to Ulman.

Ulman says there was freezing rain and snow at the time of his flight search. Still, he says, the weather was better than the official flight forecast. The clouds were higher and the visibility was twice the reported two miles.

Ulman says it looked as though the plane, leased by the Wellstone campaign, had plunged nose-first into the earth, leaving him with no hope there were survivors.

Sheriff Dahlberg says given the rough terrain and incinerated crash site, local law enforcement could do little beyond securing the scene in hopes of preserving as much evidence as possible for federal investigators.

"From our personnel that has been out at the site of the crash scene, you should be aware that because of the fire that resulted from the crash, a lot of the plane has been ... suffered the effects of the fire. The recovery of the victims from the accident probably will not take place in the immediate future. We've been in contact with the family, obviously, to try to get some background information to aid the medical examiner's office with the examinations that have to be conducted by them," he said.

	Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport assistant manager Gary Ulman was the first to spot the wreckage. Ulman says he and Duluth air traffic controllers became concerned 15 minutes after the plane radioed its final approach but never appeared. (MPR Photo/Mark Zdechlik)

About four hours after the crash, Uhlman was in the air again; circling the site where the plane went down.

By then little was visible other than smoldering white sections of the plane and rows of emergency vehicles crowded on to a country road several hundred yards off in the distance.

Minneapolis based FBI agent Paul McCabe says about 15 agents with the bureau's evidence response team will be assisting National Transportation Safety Board investigators.

McCabe emphasized through the FBI has no reason to suspect foul play caused the crash.

"This is a normal procedure It's a precautionary move. We will be assisting the NTSB on their investigation. They will be the lead agency on this investigation. I have received a number of phone calls from reporters with questions about terrorism. Currently what I can tell you is there is no indication, nor is there is any intelligence information that would suggest that the crash of Sen. Wellstone's plane was in any way related to an act of terrorism," according to McCabe.

Officials plan to brief reporters again, but it will likely be months before they issue their findings.