Ceremony in Antarctica for crash victims

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CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A memorial ceremony honored three members of a scientific support crew, based in Calgary, Alberta, who died when their airplane crashed in Antarctica.

The service, attended by 75 people, was held Monday by the U.S. National Science Foundation at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to memorialize the employees of Kenn Borek Air, whose twin-engine plane crashed into a mountain in Antarctica last week, the Calgary Herald reported Tuesday.

The plane was heading from the Amundsen-Scott base to an Italian base at Antarctica's Terra Nova Bay when contact was lost. Rescuers were hampered by heavy clouds, but the crew of a New York Air National Guard plane spotted the wreckage early Saturday, the newspaper said.

With no sign of activity and the amount of damage sustained, the crash was deemed "not survivable" by Kenn Borek Air.

Although the bodies were not recovered, the plane's cockpit voice recorder was found and has been sent to investigators for analysis, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced in a news release.