Tarzan actor presumed dead in plane crash
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NEW YORK • Tarzan actor Joe Lara (photo) and his diet guru wife Gwen Shamblin were among seven people aboard a small plane who were presumed dead after it crashed shortly into a lake outside Nashville, Tennessee, last Saturday, the United States authorities said.
The plane, a Cessna Citation 501, crashed into Percy Priest Lake near Smyrna, Tennessee, at about 11am local time, shortly after it had taken off from Smyrna Airport, south of Nashville.
The US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that seven people had been on board.
Ms Ashley McDonald, a spokesman for the Rutherford County government in Tennessee, identified those on board as William Lara, Gwen Lara, Jennifer Martin, David Martin, Jessica Walters, Jonathan Walters and Brandon Hannah.
Before noon on Sunday, rescue crew found parts of the plane, as well as human remains, in a debris field that was about 800m wide, officials said.
William Lara, 58, also known as Joe Lara, played Tarzan in the movie Tarzan In Manhattan (1989) and in the television series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (1996 to 1997). He married Ms Shamblin in 2018, according to the IMDb website.
Ms Shamblin, 66, was the leader of a Christian weight-loss group, Weigh Down Ministries, which she founded in 1986.
In 1999, she founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood. She and Lara were members of its leadership team.
At a news conference last Saturday night, Captain Joshua Sanders of Rutherford County Fire Rescue said that after searching the lake since 11am, they had "transitioned from a rescue effort to a recovery effort".
The crew on the scene was "no longer looking for live victims at this point", he said.
"We are now recovering as much as we can from the crash site."
The plane was headed to Palm Beach International Airport in Florida when it crashed.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it had sent two investigators to the crash site.
A preliminary report on the crash is expected in about two weeks, the agency said.
A complete report, including the probable cause of the accident, could take up to two years.
NYTIMES