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8 killed after small jet crashes in Minnesota
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-01 10:10

Charter company East Coast Jets confirmed the two pilots were its employees: Clark Keefer of Bethlehem, Pa., and Dan D'Ambrosio of Hellertown, Pa., in a statement on its Web site.

An aerial view of the wreckage from the crash of a small jet in Owatonna, Minn. Thursday, July 31, 2008. The crash killed at least eight people and one is missing. The passengers were traveling on business from Atlantic City, N.J. [Agencies] 
The only passenger publicly identified by late evening was Karen Sandland, 44, a project manager on the Revel casino project who worked out of Tishman Construction's Newark, N.J. office, company spokesman Bud Perrone said. She was the only Tishman employee on board, said Richard M. Kielar, the company's senior vice president.

Atlantic City Mayor Scott Evans said two high-ranking Revel executives also were among the victims, but he declined to identify them.

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Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis issued a statement Thursday night mourning the loss of employees from his company, Tishman and APG International, a Glassboro, N.J., company that specializes in glass facades. DeSanctis did not identify the victims or say how many of his company's employees died.

APG's telephone rang unanswered Thursday night, and no one immediately responded to a fax sent to the company seeking comment.

Don Pyatt, president of glass company Viracon, told the Owatonna People's Press that the customers were from "a couple of different companies" who were coming to the plant to discuss a project in Las Vegas.

Mary Ann Jackson, a spokeswoman for Viracon's parent company, Apogee Enterprises Inc., confirmed to the AP that those on board were Viracon customers, but declined to provide other details. She said no Viracon employees were involved in the crash.

The airport lies alongside Interstate 35 as it skirts Owatonna's western edge. The airport's Web site describes it as "ideal for all classes of corporate aircraft use" with an all-weather instrument landing system.