North Georgia plane crash victims identified

UNION COUNTY, Ga. — Three people are dead after a small plane crashed in northeast Georgia.

The crash happened in a wooded area near the Union County Airport in Blairsville just after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Union County borders North Carolina, and Blairsville is about 100 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

The victims who died have been identified as Robert Atkinson, 56; Renea Greiner, 55; and Michelle Seay, 50.

Emergency Management officials said a fourth person was on the plane and survived. First responders airlifted that victim to a hospital. She's in critical condition.

Jared Eggleston worked with the victims and he called them friends.

Eggleston said Atkinson's passions were flying his plane and caring for the patients at his Blairsville pharmacy.

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"He would try to find any way possible to make sure the patient got what they needed," Eggleston said.

Eggelston said the women who died were nurses in Blue Ridge. He said they helped a lot of people over the years.

"They'll be remembered for the love and care they had for everybody. I mean, they've done a lot for the people of Blue Ridge," Eggelston said.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are looking through the wreckage. It could take up to a year to officially release the cause of the crash.

Cox Media Group