1 dead, 1 in critical condition in Little Cottonwood Canyon plane crash
Aug 31, 2025, 6:52 PM | Updated: Sep 2, 2025, 3:21 pm
A plane crashed in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Sunday. (Photo courtesy: George Wheelwright)
(Photo courtesy: George Wheelwright)
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — One person is dead and one person is in critical condition after a plane crashed in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Sunday.
Director of Communications for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Hannah Gorsk, said a small aircraft crashed in the Albion Basin area at 5:21 p.m.
According to Gorsk, one person died at the scene, and one was airlifted in critical condition to the University Hospital.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office identified the two occupants Tuesday as 55-year-old Christopher Marx and 40-year-old Alex Dulude. Marx was dead when first responders arrived, and Dulude was still in the hospital in critical condition.
The sheriff’s office said Alta Marshalls, the Unified Fire Authority and nearby eyewitnesses were the first ones on scene.
KSL TV spoke to eyewitnesses who said they watched the plane crash and were some of the first bystanders to render aid.
Hunter Priest and Crystal Hulse were in the middle of their wedding save-the-date photoshoot in Little Cottonwood Canyon’s fields of wildflowers when they saw a plane flying low.
“We couldn’t hear the engines. He was gliding and then, like, tried to pull up, and he went behind the tree lines and nothing, and just, you see a big cloud of dust,” Priest said.
The couple and their photographer ran down to the field where the plane was sitting. They said one man appeared to be crawling out of the plane.
“We didn’t want to move the guy because he looked like he had had pretty serious injuries,” Priest said. “It almost looked like he tried to jump out before he crashed.”
They said he was responsive, but badly injured.
Priest said they used his belt as a tourniquet for his leg injury.
He said he tried to pry open the plane door to remove another person inside.
“When it lost its wing, it was kind of on its side when it landed, and trying to get him out, his legs were all squished up in the dash,” Priest said.
They said they weren’t able to remove a second person inside.
“We couldn’t have done CPR with the way he was wedged in there, but we tried to get him out,” Hulse said.
They said the other passenger was in shock.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” Hulse said. “He kept trying to tell us to help his friend.”
The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating on Monday. Officials are asking the public to stay away from the area while the investigation is going on.
Gorsk said the Albion Basin campground is closing for the season on Monday morning.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to finish their on-scene investigation by end-of-day Tuesday.
Contributing: Jacob Freeman
This is a breaking news story. It may be updated.
