Crash bodies recovered

THE bodies of three US firefighters who died when their air tanker crashed in southern NSW have been retrieved before their families arrive in Sydney this weekend.

The families of captain Ian McBeth (pictured), first officer Paul Clyde Hudson and flight engineer Rick DeMorgan Jr will be able to visit the “complicated” crash site northeast of Cooma if they wish to.

“The bodies have now been recovered from the site,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

Capt McBeth, 44, is survived by his wife Bowdie and three children in Montana.