Family Had Been Traveling To A Holiday Party

A family of five, including three children, were fatally injured Saturday when the Piper PA-32 they were aboard went down in an almond orchard near Bakersfield, CA.

The Associated Press reports that a relative of the family told the Las Vegas television station KNTV that Jason Thomas Price, his wife Olga Dahlan, and their three children ages 9,10, and 14 were aboard the airplane when it went down. They had been traveling to Las Vegas for a holiday party when the accident occurred.

The flight departed Saturday from Reid-Hillview airport in San Jose, CA en route to Henderson Executive airport in Las Vegas.

CBS news reports that air traffic controllers received a mayday call from Price and then lost contact with the airplane. The wreckage was discovered about three hours later, according to the Kern County (CA) Sheriff's Office.

The National Weather Service said that there were clouds and rain in the area around the time that the accident occurred.

According to Price's LinkedIn profile, he offered disaster and humanitarian relief as a pilot with the Civil Air Patrol. Relatives said he often flew for work, and regularly took his family on short trips.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov