BLEEDING and alone, 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler had just survived a plane crash that killed her family in the United States.

    She walked through 1.6 km of woods and thick briar patches, wearing a short-sleeve shirt, shorts and no shoes in near-freezing temperatures when she saw a light in the distance.

    The beacon led her to Larry Wilkins’ home, police said, and she knocked on the door. Wilkins answered to find a thin, black-haired girl, whimpering and trembling.

    “I come to the door and there’s a little girl, 7 years old, bloody nose, bloody arms, bloody legs, one sock, no shoes, crying,” Wilkins, 71, said Saturday. “She told me that her mom and dad were dead, and she had been in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down.”

    U.S. federal aviation administration officials arrived at the crash scene Saturday to try to determine why the small Piper PA-34 crashed Friday evening, killing four people, including the girl’s parents, Marty Gutzler, 48, and his wife, Kimberly Gutzler, 46, authorities said.

    Also killed were Sailor’s sister Piper Gutzler, 9; and cousin Sierra Wilder, 14. All were from Nashville, Illinois. The bodies have been sent to Louisville for autopsies.

    The plane reported engine trouble and lost contact with air traffic controllers, authorities said. Controllers had been trying to direct the pilot to an airport about 8 to 11 km from the crash scene, authorities said.

    Wilkins said he brought the girl inside, got a washcloth and “washed her little face off and her legs.”

    “Brave little girl, outstanding little girl,” he said. “I feel real bad for her.”

    The girl had a broken wrist, but was coherent and calm when interviewed by authorities, Kentucky State Police Lt. Brent White said.

    White and Wilkins described the terrain she walked through as heavily wooded with thick brush. White said the girl traversed two embankments, a hill and a creek bed. The temperatures were below 4 degrees Celsius when the girl showed up at Wilkins’ door.

    “She literally fell out of the sky into a dark hole and didn’t have anybody but her own will to live and get help for her family,” White said. “Absolutely amazing.”

    The girl was treated at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Kentucky, and released early Saturday to a relative, Kentucky State Police said.

    Marty ran the furniture store that his father started, and the couple was well-known and well-liked, said neighbor Carla Povolish.

    The FAA said late Friday that the plane had taken off from Tallahassee Regional Airport in Florida, and was bound for Mount Vernon, Illinois. Kentucky State Police Sgt. Dean Patterson said the girl indicated that the plane had left from Key West, Florida. (SD-Agencies)