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Pilot and passenger who died in Colo. plane crash identified

Posted at 9:22 AM, Feb 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-28 19:43:50-05

LARIMER COUNTY — A day after two men perished in a plane crash in Larimer County, authorities are identifying each man. 

The Larimer County Coroner's Office identified the two occupants as Patrick Blankemeier, a 58-year-old Arvada man, and James Griffith, a 23-year-old Denver man. 

Blankemeier is identified as a pilot's instructor and has a lengthy history in the cockpit of planes. 

MORE | See photos from the fatal crash. 

Both men died from blunt force injuries after authorities pulled them from the wreckage in the Culver Reservoir and rushed them to a nearby hospital. 

It took crews hours to remove the plane from the water, where the crash took place. 

NTSB investigators arrived on Monday to investigate, but have not yet put out any of their findings. 

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