2 missing after plane goes down in Columbia River

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — A former county commissioner from Washington state is missing after his plane crashed while trying to help a woman scatter the ashes of her deceased husband.

The Columbian newspaper reports that John McKibbin was last seen Wednesday afternoon when he and a woman took off in an antique plane from Pearson Field in Vancouver, Washington.

The U.S. Coast Guard soon got reports of a small plane crashing in the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon. Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin says deputies found oil in the water Thursday.

Bergin confirmed the pilot was McKibbin, a former Clark County commissioner. The sheriff said he has yet to confirm the name of the other victim.

George Welsh, a friend of McKibbin, told the newspaper that McKibbin and the woman were heading to the mouth of the Columbia River to scatter the ashes of the woman's deceased husband.