In brief: Strange odor diverts plane to Cuba

HAVANA – A United Airlines jetliner carrying 135 passengers from Washington to a Mexican beach resort made an unplanned landing in Cuba on Sunday after a strange odor was detected on board, a spokesman for the carrier said.

United Airlines Flight 831 left Dulles airport in the morning and was bound for Cancun but instead diverted to Havana around noon after “the crew noticed an unfamiliar smell in the cabin,” spokesman Charles Hobart said in a statement.

“In an abundance of caution, the pilots decided to land the aircraft at the nearest available airport,” he said. “The plane landed routinely and safely in Havana and we are working to re-accommodate our customers.”

Cuban airport and other officials contacted by the Associated Press had no immediate comment.

Missing deputy’s body found in river

DOUGLAS, Wyo. – The body of a Wyoming deputy who jumped in the North Platte River to assist a struggling girl was discovered Sunday.

It was the fourth day of searching for 29-year-old Bryan P. Gross, of the Converse County sheriff’s office, who went in the river Thursday evening after a teenage girl who appeared to be struggling. The girl survived, but Gross was swept away in the river swollen by heavy snowmelt.

County Sheriff Clinton Becker said Gross’ body was found late Sunday morning in the river about a mile and a half from where Gross entered.

Family of four killed in floatplane crash

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Anchorage pilot and his family were the four people who died in a collision between their single-engine plane and another small aircraft, a co-worker of the pilot said Sunday.

The Cessna 180 was registered to Corey Carlson, a 41-year-old private pilot, who died with his wife, Hetty Carlson, 39, and their two young children, said Mark Mazur, who worked with Corey Carlson at GE Drilling Systems, an oilfield services company.

The crash occurred around Amber Lake near Trapper Creek, 80 miles north of Anchorage.

Alaska authorities had tentative identifications of the dead but were not releasing names until the state medical examiner’s office makes positive IDs, said Megan Peters, a spokeswoman for state troopers.

Authorities said the floatplane crashed Saturday after the collision with another single-engine floatplane, a Cessna 206, which suffered significant damage but was able to return to Anchorage. The pilot, Kevin Earp, 56, of Eagle River, was alone in the aircraft and uninjured.