Two Shuswap men missing for 32 years have been identified as victims of a crashed plane found in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

RCMP Southeast District spokesman, Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey, says a plane was found near McDougall Lake, north of Clearwater, on September 18 of 2018.

He says the remains of two people inside have been identified as Eagle Bay residents Ernie Whitehead and Len Dykhuizen – who went missing in 1987.

“The crash site itself was located among very rugged and difficult and treacherous terrain. That would’ve likely made it extremely difficult for searchers back in the 80s and 90s to find the site. It just so happens that the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre were conducting an unrelated search back in 2018 when they happened to come across this site,” O’Donaghey tells NL News.

“Hopefully these results here can answer some long-standing questions for both of these individuals families.”

Whitehead and Dykhuizen were headed for McDougall Lake from the Eagle Bay area when they disappeared, after taking off on June 20 of 1987.